The Scottish Government and Scottish Local Government have launched a consultation which seeks views to update the Digital Strategy for Scotland, which will be crucial in helping to build a Digital Scotland.

The consultation document maps out what are believed to be the key themes in building a Digital Scotland and the consultation asks us to think about and suggest the actions we should take together to bring the vision into reality.

For the first time, Local Government has a real opportunity to have a strong voice in the future of digital in Scotland.

With the vigorous commitment to working with stakeholders and people across Scotland to deliver an updated Digital Strategy for Scotland, COSLA, the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government and the Improvement Service will be hosting a series of workshops to engage directly with representatives from across the Local Government family.

The purpose of these workshops is to:

• Explore the key themes and how they relate to Local Government;
• Encourage individuals to respond to the consultation;
• Provide an opportunity to challenge the consultation document;
• Gather feedback on the question set developed by Scottish Government for the consultation.

The workshops are: ·

Workshop 1 – Tuesday 1 December 2020 
2 - 4pm: No One Left Behind and Services Working for All (Digital Inclusion)

Workshop 2 – Wednesday 2 December 2020
2 - 4pm: Transforming Government

Workshop 3 – Tuesday 8 December 2020
2 - 4pm: A Digital and Data Economy & A Vibrant Tech Sector (Digital Economy)

Workshop 4 – Thursday 10 December 2020
2 - 4pm: An Ethical Digital Nation

Spaces for each session are extremely limited. Members of Scottish Local Government organisations are asked to think carefully about which workshop they would like to attend and which they could contribute most to before registering. In the case of oversubscription, further workshops may be considered.

The consultation closes on 23 December 2020, with the aim of a finalised Strategy to be published in early 2021. If you have any questions relating to the engagement workshops, please email info@digitaloffice.scot.