Renewing Scotland's full potential in a digital world: consultation

1. Foreword

Digital technologies are transforming the way in which people live their lives across Scotland. They are also playing a central role in a continued focus on delivering better outcomes for people, and provide significant opportunities to improve our essential public services.

The coronavirus crisis has shown us that working digitally is more important than ever before and has driven fundamental changes, including how we work and how we interact socially. It has also shown that collaboration can achieve powerful results.

The Scottish Government and COSLA are committed to working together to deliver a refreshed Digital Strategy for Scotland that reflects this, and to engaging with partners across Scotland throughout this process. We share a vision of modern, digital and collaborative government, designed around people.

This can only be delivered when central and local government work together. We are committed to doing that to ensure services are designed to meet the needs of the user, cutting across boundaries between service providers, to deliver economic recovery, meet our climate change targets, and ensure that everyone in Scotland has the skills, connectivity and devices required to fully participate in our digital nation.

Globally, the pace and scale of digital transformation will only continue in the coming months and years. We are confident that Scotland is in a strong position to meet the challenges and realise the opportunities that this presents, and to further our reputation as an inclusive and outward-looking digital nation.

Ben Macpherson MSP, Minister for Public Finance and Migration

Councillor Gail MacGregor, COSLA Resources Spokesperson