International network: monitoring and evaluation report 2022-2023

Methodology

Given that there are nine locations distributed across the globe which feature within the evaluation, a self-reporting approach has been identified as the most appropriate and proportionate approach to evaluation. In order to facilitate the robustness of this process, analytical professionals within the Scottish Government design the self-reporting process and provide oversight and quality assurance with regard to the outputs that are provided by each of the locations.

All of the offices are provided with a template document which they are asked to complete (see Annex A for details on what this contains). The template is designed to provide a consistent approach across the offices and contains guidelines to help facilitate the robustness of the process. Specifically each location is asked to report against a number of contextual factors as well as against each of the five strategic outcomes. The contextual areas which offices provide evidence for include:

• Context for reporting year including office location, staffing and headcount
• Overall reflections on biggest achievements and challenges over the last year
• Medium to long-term impact
• Lessons learned for reporting year including what could have gone better and areas for improvement in the coming year.

As previously discussed all of the locations work towards a set of shared strategic objectives which were published in 2022. Each location is required to provide both qualitative and quantitative information regarding their performance against each objective via the self-reporting template. This includes information on their main aims with regard to the objective, what went well and what did not, relevant statistical data, challenges as well as a case study for each objective.

It should be noted that in order to reduce the burden of reporting and ensure proportionality each office is limited to one page of reporting information per strategic objective. The rest of this report will consist of the returned templates provided by each office alongside a conclusion.

Some of the statistical data that is reported, particularly around trade, investment, and GlobalScots, is provided via Scottish Development International (SDI). SDI is the international trade and investment arm of Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise and works closely with Scottish Government’s international offices to deliver against the international trade and investment economic agenda and manage the GlobalScot network.

Where international trade opportunities are reported it should be noted that these relate to introductions made by SDI in-market specialists based in a relevant country to advance discussions with international buyers looking to source particular products and services from Scottish exporters.

International sales relate to projects where a company is forecasting sales in a particular market (or multiple markets) and where SDI support has made a significant contribution to the delivery of these forecast sales. These figures show the contribution that individual offices (or countries) make towards SDI’s international sales but this measure may include duplicated figures where a project spans more than a single country.

Lastly, it should also be noted that trade figures for China include Hong Kong.