Policy paper

UK Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 2016-18: Commitment from the Scottish Government

Published 7 December 2016

1. UK Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 2016-18: Commitment from the Scottish Government

2. Effective Open Government for governments at all levels

2.1 Developing Effective Open Government for governments at all levels, through the outputs from one or more summit discussions

Main objective

To share learning across the UK in order to establish the effective governance for Open Government commitments - through collaborative dialogue between governments, civil society and experts

Status quo

In reviewing the first five years of Open Government Partnership a number of important themes emerged. Including the need to bring in new political leadership and open government innovations from all levels of government; to ensure that OGP commitments provide real improvement in people’s lives. They also identified that only 2% of commitments worldwide are aimed at health or education or climate change.

Scotland is one of 15 Pioneer governments at various levels worldwide who are developing action plans and working with OGP to consider these questions.

Scotland will lead a collaborative discussion within the UK with governments, civil society and experts to identify how best to support the spread of Open Government.

The changing nature of democracy and varying levels of devolution in United Kingdom make it an ideal testing ground for beginning to develop a robust framework which enables OGP Action Plans to be developed at the level that is most effective for the people they serve. This will mean they are able to tackle some of the most significant societal issues in ways which will support the delivery of the sustainable development goals by 2030.

Ambition

The result will be a draft framework to set out how OGP, governments and civil society can ensure that commitments are ‘owned’ at the level of government best able to deliver improvements while maintaining the core values and effective partnership with civil society.

Lead implementing organisation

Scottish Government

Timeline

Spring 2017 - December 2017

OGP values

Technology and innovation

New or ongoing commitment

New

Other actors involved - government

Governments of Wales, Northern Ireland and Cabinet Office for UK

Other actors involved - CSOs, private sector, working groups, multilaterals

Open Government Partnership OGP Civil Society Networks from Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and UK

Verifiable and measurable milestones to fulfil the commitment New or ongoing commitment Start Date End Date
One or more summit meetings between governments, civil society, OGP and experts to explore the issues collaboratively New Spring 2017 Draft Framework in place December 2017