28th September 2017
Today (28 September) is International Right to Know Day, so what better way to mark the occasion than to hear from the Convener of Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland, Carole Ewart. I met up with Carole a few weeks back to hear her thoughts on access to information in Scotland and the role…
29th August 2017
Increasing transparency, participation, and collaboration throughout government requires significant change. Moving away from traditional approaches to policy design and methods of working to more democratic alternatives requires us to think and behave differently, whilst not getting too frustrated with the long road ahead. Many of us are champions and change agents of open government, committed…
28th August 2017
In being a member of the Open Government Partnership, Scotland is seeking a culture of governance that follows the principles of transparency, accountability and participation. This is the lifeblood of open government and we all know the importance of getting it right. Scotland was also one of the first governments to sign up to the…
11th August 2017
By Emma Harvey (Scottish Government) and Paul Bradley (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations) Last year, Scotland was accepted to be part of the Pioneer Tier of the Open Government Partnership, a pilot program consisting of 15 subnational governments with action plans to open up government throughout 2017. This handed Scotland a unique opportunity to show…
28th July 2017
Having returned from the Open Government Partnership in Washington – where CSOs and governments were promoting their use of tech to progress open government commitments – Shelter Scotland’s recent one day event aimed at bringing charities and the tech community together felt particularly relevant to the OpenGov Network. Tom Youll, one of the event hosts,…
24th July 2017
This post talks about some of the things I’ve been working on over the last five months, my initial thoughts about the network and forum in Scotland and invites you to support me in building this community of open government champions across Scotland.
10th May 2017
The meeting took place on Tuesday 9th May 2017 at 1oam in the George Mackay Brown Library, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh with around 20 participants from government and civil society backgrounds. The purpose of this meeting was to assess progress against the commitments so far and plan how we take forward delivery of the commitments for…
28th February 2017
Written by Paul Bradley, SCVO. Last week, the Scottish Budget was passed by Parliament. Last-ditch deals were made to secure support for the bill and compromises prevented gridlock. Many conversations between political parties were taking place over how Scotland’s money should be spent, but the most important conversation was the one we were not having:…
19th December 2016
Scotland was selected earlier this as a pioneer within the Open Government Partnership’s Subnational Programme. This means Scottish Government signed and submitted (to the Paris #OGP16 conference) an action plan for open government delivering commitments in Scotland. This is a pioneering plan, headlined by five top level strategic commitments. It is available from the OGP…
8th September 2016
Blog by Martha Caddell, Open University Just under a year ago, UN member states agreed a new global framework to replace the Millennium Development Goals. Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets out an ambitious plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity. It is underpinned by 17 global goals, the Sustainable…