30th August 2016
One of the key challenges for the Open Government Network in Scotland is opening up the open government agenda to wider civil society, in ways that encourage open government to be understood as a movement for change, rather than a technocratic process. All too often the language associated with Open Government (data, open-contracting, anti-corruption, scrutiny…
25th April 2016
On the 20th April 2016 21 people from Scottish civil society groups and government met in Edinburgh to discuss the draft Scottish commitments for the National Action Plan and look at how we could expand and strengthen the Scottish Network. Lucy McTernan (Deputy Chief Executive SCVO), Tim Hughes (UK Open Government Civil Society Network Co-ordinator…
13th April 2016
Something wonderful is happening. In our increasingly uncertain, fragile and repressive world, Scotland is joining with fourteen localities across the globe to light the way forward for openness, transparency and accountability. We have been selected as part of the International Subnational Government Programme. Each ‘subnational’ pioneer involved is not a full member country, but does have a…
27th February 2016
On the 17th February Involve, the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and the Scottish Government held an Open Government workshop at The Gathering 2016 – Scotland’s largest annual Third Sector event. Opening this year’s Gathering First Minister Nicola Sturgeon spoke about the Scottish Government’s commitment to Open Government, and stated that the Open Government…
22nd October 2015
The Scottish Government, along with Northern Ireland and Wales, have agreed to make commitments in the UK’s new OGP Action plan. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is therefore working with support from the UK Open Government Civil Society Coordinator to coordinate Scottish civil society input to the OGP plan and build the momentum around OGP action in…
17th July 2015
On 14th July, we held a roundtable with Scottish civil society organisations to discuss if and how Scotland should be involved in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the UK’s third (2016-18) OGP National Action Plan. The following note sets out what was discussed and agreed. Details When: 14th July 2015, 10am to 12pm Where: Edinburgh…
14th June 2015
The Scottish Government is consulting on extending Freedom of Information Act: “The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 provides a statutory right of access to information held by Scottish public authorities. The provisions of the Act can be extended to bodies that carry out functions of a public nature or which provide, under a contract with…