Background info for the 2018-2020 Scotland Open Government Action Plan
Since the turn of the year work has been underway to develop improved processes and a project plan ahead of creating Scotland’s 2018/20 open government action plan. We’re now all set to press ahead!
What it’s all about
Developing Scotland’s second open government action plan is part of Scotland’s promise as a member of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), to work with citizens and civil society to make government and institutions work better in a transparent, engaging and accountable way.
Last year, Scotland became part of the Pioneer Tier of the OGP, a pilot program consisting of 15 local governments with action plans to open up government throughout 2017. As the 2017 plan comes to an end, we are beginning to develop and launch the 2018-2020 open government action plan.
You might wonder what the value of open government is or why you should be interested in taking part. Here’s a few words answering those questions.
What we’ve been up to
Both the Scottish Government and Civil Society Network have been working to establish a new Multi-stakeholder Forum that will have oversight of Scotland’s next Open Government Action Plan. Your comments on the proposed forum have been fed back and the previous OGP Steering Group met on 23rd March to review and approve the new structures.
We received eight nominations to represent the Network on Scotland’s new OGP Multi-stakeholder Forum. Having received the same number of nominations as allocated places, the nominees are automatically selected for the eight places on the Steering Group with an election. The successful nominees will join eight delegates from the Scottish Government to form Scotland’s new OGP Steering Group.
Your representatives on Scotland’s OGP Steering Group for 2018-20 are:
- Eddy Borges-Rey, University of Stirling
- Lucy McTernan, SCVO until May 31st
- Shaben Begum, Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance
- Alex Stobart, N/A
- Kaela Scott, Involve
- Elric Honoré, Fife Centre for Equalities
- Niamh Webster, The Democratic Society
- Catherine Gee, Keep Scotland Beautiful
We’ve developed a delivery plan that maps out the timelines for developing the next action plan, how we envisage people taking part and the various activities we are planning to take forward between now and May 2018. Anyone can access this plan and you can even make edits and suggestions (which we encourage).
Where we go next
The bulk of the activity to develop the action plan will take place between the end of March and early May. April is going to be one busy month! Over the next couple of weeks, the team will be working on the following:
- Setting up a series of events to form the spine of engagement
- Producing a DIY kit for organisations and groups to host their own discussions
- Developing online opportunities to feed into the process
If you would like to get more involved with the planning of this engagement then please join the Network’s Action Plan Sub-group. There’s also more information towards the end of this message.
How to take part
Stay informed
Find out more information about Scotland’s previous and next action plans both on our own website and the Scottish Governments – including blogs and papers – or follow us on twitter – we use the hashtag #OpenGovScot. Our project planning is completely open, so you can view what we’re getting up to.
Have your say
There’s already been opportunities to feed into the new OGP governance proposals, and now we move onto the action plan itself. Attend an event, host your own smaller discussions at work or with your community or take part in online discussions. More details will be shared this month on how to have your say on the next action plan.
Collaborate
There are plenty of opportunities to play an even more collaborative role. Why not put yourself forward to join the new OGP Steering Group when nominations take place in late March, or join the network’s action plan sub-group and support behind the scenes work (even though it’s all openly planned!)