‘Digital government’ could save £200m
● Scotland’s public sector needs to ‘lead the way’ in a ‘digital transformation’
The Scottish Government should appoint a high-profile “digital leader” for Scotland to help create a “transformation” of the public sector which could save up to £200 million by 2020, a report has claimed.
The study said that Scotland had an opportunity to become “a world leader in digital transformation” but that the public sector needed to lead the way in terms of digital connectivity, allowing citizens to carry out more interactions with the government online.
Published today by the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI), Scot- landis, The Royal Society of Edinburgh and BT Scotland, Smart Citizens, Smart City Regions – Delivering Digital Public Services in Scotland, said the public sector needed to build a relationship of trust with citizens that would underpin faster rollout of digital public services and put citizens “in control of their digital lives”.
It claimed that a digital transformation of public services could save between £130m and £200m, pointing to data showing that online transaction costs can be up to 50 times cheaper than those carried out face to face.
Mark Dames, head of policy and public Affairs for BT Scotland and a member of SCDI’S Smart Citizens, Smart City Regions steering group, said: “In order for Scotland’s citizens to reap the rewards of a digital nation, leadership from local and central government and the wider public sector is required to set Scotland on a course to achieving the vision outlined in this report.
“The foundations are strong, and the integration of digital technologies in the reform of public services offers huge opportunities to introduce new ways of accessing, targeting and delivering public services using new technology.”
He added: “Yet, without reform placing a priority on digital, there is a risk that the changes implemented now will not be sufficiently futureproofed for the economy and society we face in the future.”
However, the study acknowledged that some people will never be able to manage their lives in a digital way and added that there is a need to create an “extra help unit” to support non-digital service users. It also added that there is a need for a digital workforce development programme that actively supports public sector staff at all levels to invest in their own digital understanding and skills and called for the creation of a Public Sector Digital MBA where people would “undertake secondments across multiple organisations to progress and advise them on their own digital journeys”.
Claire Mack, director of policy and place at SCDI, said: “Scotland has the opportunity to become a world leader in digital transformation. The investments that have been made in digital infrastructure over recent years need to be fully utilised to help support our economic growth as a nation.
“We know the economic challenges that face us are significantandusingdigitaltechnologies to create a nation of smart citizens and smart city regions in Scotland will help to prepare us for these challenges.”