Scotland's Open Government action plan: 2021 to 2025

5. What happens next?

How will we coordinate between government agencies and departments to implement this action plan?

The Open Government Steering Group, Scotland's "multistakeholder forum", brings together leads from each of the Commitments on a quarterly basis. This ensures that each area is well sighted on the progress and actions of the others, and can make appropriate connections and input as required.

Between these meetings, the Open Government Team and civil society Network act as coordinating points between the different teams and organisations involved in delivering this work, identifying synergies, opportunities, and bringing areas together when appropriate.

In addition, the Open Government Team (within Scottish Government) meets with officials from the UK Government and devolved Governments within the UK, to support coordination of Open Government work across the UK.

How will government and non-government stakeholders continue to collaborate through the implementation of the action plan?

The delivery of each Commitment will be overseen by one government and one non-government Commitment lead, who will report on progress to the Open Government Steering Group.

How will we monitor the OGP Action Plan?

An independent reporter will be commissioned to ensure it is possible to track progress of the Action Plan, and to continue to compare that progress with other Open Government Partnership members.

This contract will be with the Scottish Government, but will be developed and overseen by a subcommittee of the Steering Group, made up of equal numbers of civil society and government representatives. This will help ensure transparency and credibility of the reporting.

In addition to an appointed independent reporter, there will be rigorous and regular self-reporting (at least twice a year) to the Steering Group. This will be published on the Open Government web page.

Scottish Parliament will also monitor progress on Open Government as part of an expanded set of duties for the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee.

What types of activities will we have in place to discuss progress on commitments with stakeholders?

Regular Steering Group meetings will provide a formal process for reviewing progress on Commitments with stakeholders. Milestones identified by each Commitment will be the key mechanism for this. Each of the Commitments will have working groups through which government and civil society collaborate to oversee implementation and the development of additional milestones as the Action Plan progresses.

Steering Group meetings will also be informed by a monitoring and evaluation framework that will be developed in collaboration with each Commitment, providing indicators to measure the extent to which a Commitment's strategic aims are being achieved. Commitment milestones will form part of this, as will additional quantitative and qualitative data relevant to the activities and their intended aims.

Civil society and government will work together to maintain a healthy civil society network around Open Government in Scotland. This network will also be involved in monitoring the progress of Commitments. This will include pro-actively identifying existing and upcoming cross-cutting strategies and policies that will be engaging stakeholders, who could in turn be involved in the network.

How will we regularly check in on progress with implementing agencies?

Steering Group meetings will be held at least quarterly each year, and will provide an opportunity to check in on progress with implementing agencies. In addition to this, a monitoring and evaluation framework will provide background information on the extent to which a Commitment's aims are being achieved – this will be updated whenever a milestone is due to be completed, or new relevant data is available.

How will we share the results of your monitoring efforts with the public?

The minutes of all Steering Group meetings will be published online. The monitoring and evaluation framework will draw on publicly available information, or will publish new information. Updates on this framework will be published on the Open Government pages of gov.scot after each Steering Group meeting.

How can I get involved?

Scotland's Open Government Network is a group of active and interested people and organisations. They are committed to making government at all levels work better for people in Scotland through becoming more transparent and accountable and encouraging public involvement. Scotland has had a small network of individuals and organisations interested in Open Government for several years. The network serves as an "engine" for new ideas and a voice to join with and challenge government.

Anyone with an interest can join the network. Visit the Open Government Network website to become a member. It's free and you can be involved as much or as little as you like.