International network: monitoring and evaluation report 2022-2023

Introduction

This publication contains the monitoring and evaluation reports from nine locations where both the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise (SE) / Scottish Development International (SDI) have a physical presence within a given country. These locations are: Brussels, London, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Nordics (Copenhagen), and USA. This joint monitoring and evaluation process, alongside the joint business planning process between the Scottish Government and SE/SDI, have become a core part of collaborative working across these nine locations.

This joint work is supported by two main pillars – the long term strategic outcomes and the priorities mandate. The priorities mandate is designed to help ensure a coherent and responsive approach from the international network to the strategic priorities for Scotland in any given year with priorities set directly by the Cabinet Secretaries with responsibility for the international network. The long term strategic outcomes sit alongside these to inform how the network should pursue these outcomes in the context of any given year. These are:-

• Reputation – improving Scotland’s international profile
• Investment – attracting investment
• International Trade – helping businesses to trade internationally
• Research & Innovation – promoting and securing research and innovation capability, partnerships and funding
• Scotland’s Interests – protecting and enhancing Scotland’s interests in the EU and beyond

An additional key activity that the International Offices focus on and which helps contribute to the wider objectives set out above is facilitating cultural exchanges and events.

Additional details regarding the strategic objectives that the offices work towards and business plans for each of the offices can be found here: International offices: strategic objectives.

While all offices have monitored and reported on the work undertaken in respective countries/locations, it is important to note differing sizes and scale of the offices, the varying levels of co-location of Scottish Government/SDI staff (and Scotland Europa within Brussels) as well as the length of time in which they have been in operation. For example, Scotland House Brussels and the Washington DC office have been operating for more than twenty years, whilst Scottish Government opened its Nordic office in Copenhagen last year, complementing the existing SDI presence there.

A key contextual feature affecting the work of all of the offices in 2022/23 has been the lifting of Covid restrictions and gradual return to in-person meetings and events. Whilst this has affected the work of every office it is worth noting that variations in approach and timing between countries with regards to a return to pre-pandemic ways of working will likely have had a differential impact on some offices.

As part of a commitment to continuous learning, improvement and transparency the Scottish Government undertakes an annual monitoring and evaluation process with regards to the work of the International Offices. This activity focusses on identifying successes, as well as areas where there have been challenges and areas for improvement. The outputs of the evaluation are aligned to the strategic objectives set out above. Additional details regarding the process of evaluation can be found within the methodology chapter of this report. The budget of each office during this reporting period has also been included in Annex B of the report in order to aid context setting.