Welcome to our newsletter, bringing you all the latest from the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government. In this newsletter, we bring you a detailed update on what has been happening throughout the last month and details of upcoming activities.
If you have any queries regarding any of the content within this newsletter, please get in touch.
The Digital Office for Scottish Local Government is pleased to publish our Action Plan for 2026–2028. This plan sets out how we will continue to support Scottish local authorities to embrace digital to deliver safe, modern and efficient services for their communities.
2026 marks the 10th anniversary of the Digital Office. Ten years of inspiring, connecting and supporting councils to accelerate digital transformation and deliver better outcomes for the people of Scotland.
This Action Plan is now available on the Digital Office Resource Centre and reflects the evolving role of the Digital Office and the practical steps we will take, working nationally, across the sector, and with individual councils, to strengthen digital foundations and enable delivery of the ambitions outlined in the Digital Strategy for Scotland Vision Statement and its supporting action plans.
Digital Strategy: Call to Action for Scottish Local Authorities.
Following the successful co-development of the AI Policy Principles, we are now taking a similar “Once for Scotland” approach to digital strategies.To strengthen alignment with the National Digital Strategy for Scotland and its delivery plans, we are asking all councils to share their current digital strategies. This will allow us to build a clear national view and identify where we can accelerate delivery through greater consistency and collaboration.
What we are asking for
We invite councils to provide:
Their current Digital Strategy (or latest draft)
A clear view of how it aligns to:
National priorities
Delivery plans and intended outcomes
Insight on key challenges and opportunities, particularly in relation to:
Delivery of national ambitions
Alignment between local and national priorities
Capacity, capability and funding
What you will gain
Participating councils will benefit from:
A structured assessment of alignment with national strategy
A comparative view across the sector to understand position and progress
Access to proven approaches and leading practice from other councils
The opportunity to shape a gold-standard digital strategy model for Scotland
Greater efficiency and reduced duplication through shared approaches and solutions
Please share your strategy directly with the Digital Office atinfo@digitaloffice.scotand include any supporting commentary or context. Submissions are welcomed regardless of whether your strategy is finalised or currently under review.
Energy Invest to Save Programme Update.
Funded by the Scottish Government’s Public Service Reform Invest to Save Programme 2025 to 2026, installations are now underway across Angus, Glasgow, Moray, Renfrewshire and Scottish Borders, covering over 1 million square feet of council estate, and are on track to complete in July. This is already giving energy managers improved visibility of how buildings are consuming energy, creating a stronger evidence base to support operational decision making and longer-term planning.
In a number of properties, additional sensors have been deployed to allow energy use to be compared against environmental factors such as heat and occupancy. This is enabling a more dynamic understanding of building performance and helping to identify where targeted interventions can reduce cost and carbon.
The next phase of the programme will focus on evaluating the impact of this data on energy management, capturing practical lessons learned, and developing a business case to support wider adoption across the sector.
National Training Platform - Discovery through collaborations.
Our collaboration with DLI continues to build momentum as the Digital Learning Infrastructure programme moves from planning into delivery, creating a modern, national learning infrastructure that improves access, connectivity and personalisation, with stronger data and future AI-enabled capability.
In parallel, we are mirroring this approach within local government, working closely with councils to explore what a similar model could look like. This includes applying lessons learned from supplier engagement and requirements development to shape an approach that aligns with sector needs while supporting a shared, national direction.
Progress highlights
Supplier engagement validated the strategic direction and focus on skills based, AI enabled learning
Strong core LMS capability across the market, delivery approach will be key
Governance refreshed to support procurement, implementation and risk management
Next steps
Continue requirements validation and engagement with DLI and councils
Refine operating model and implementation planning
Progress data, content and migration readiness
Finalise procurement and invitation to tender (ITT)
Overall, the programme is well positioned to move into delivery, while local government exploration ensures readiness to adopt and scale a similar approach. If you would like further information or to get involved, please contact info@digitaloffice.scot.
FOI Mapathon - Building Together.
Councils came together with the Digital Office and Engage Process to co-develop a baseline FOI process, using a live “mapathon” session to map, challenge and improve how this critical service is delivered.
This builds on our shared process library, creating a foundation for councils to reuse and adapt processes, reducing duplication and accelerating improvement. The session highlighted strong collective commitment to collaboration and a shared understanding of what good looks like.
Why it matters
Improves consistency and efficiency
Reduces duplication
Strengthens process design capability
Supports better outcomes for citizens
Next steps
Provide access to the shared library
Co-develop the governance needed to support adoption and reuse
Expand the library with further high-impact processes
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the session and for those of you who were unable to attend or would like to get involved going forward, please contact info@digitaloffice.scot
CHI in Local Government Discovery Programme - Building the foundations for joined-up care.
The CHI in Local Government Discovery programme has now moved from initial mobilisation into an active programme of work, bringing together partners from across local government, health and care.
A Delivery Board is now in place, with broad representation across sectors, and a Technical Advisory Group is being established to ensure the programme reflects real-world experience from those working in services. This phase of the programme is about understanding what works. We are exploring how CHI, Scotland’s unique health identifier, could be used more consistently across services, focusing on key areas such as social work referrals, hospital discharge, and how organisations share and use information.
Crucially, we are also identifying the practical steps organisations would need to take - from information governance through to technical implementation - so that future adoption is clearer, safer and more efficient. By doing this work up front, the programme is laying the groundwork to support councils and partners in the future, avoiding duplication of effort and reducing risk.
This is not about immediate rollout. Instead, it is about building shared understanding and practical guidance that can support wider change, including national ambitions around integrated care and the Digital Front Door. As part of this, we will begin to share early, foundational outputs through the CHI Integration Playbook. These will be introduced gradually and will continue to develop as we learn more.
As this work develops, we are keen to stay connected with the sector. If you are already using CHI, or would like to be involved in shaping this work through the Technical Advisory Group, we would welcome hearing from you atinfo@digitaloffice.scot.
Housing - It's All About You: Are You Ready for Digital Telecare?
As the analogue switch-off date approaches, Digital Telecare is urging housing partners across Scotland to act now.
Engagement is improving, with around 60% of organisations actively working with us. However, over 70 providers remain unengaged, and some ARCs have yet to submit essential data, leaving gaps in the national picture at a critical time.
Understanding where analogue systems remain, and where migration plans are in place, is vital to ensuring a safe and effective transition for tenants.
Digital Telecare continues to support partners with migration planning, supplier engagement, and shared learning. A Ministerial letter will shortly reinforce the urgency of taking action.
Microsoft Licence Aggregated Procurement Opportunity.
There is still time to join our upcoming procurement aggregation opportunity for Microsoft licensing. This aggregation can cover those councils due for enrolment between 31 January 2027 and 1 April 2027.
Co‑ordinated by the Digital Office, Scotland Excel and the Government Commercial Agency (GCA), this aggregated approach continues to support councils to achieve cost avoidances and reduce the time and effort associated with individual procurements. The most recent exercise delivered an average cost avoidance of 3.21% compared to market pricing.
If your organisation is subject to Microsoft licence expiries during the dates in question, but has not yet received notification from us, then please contact Euan Miller for details and instructions.
M365 Labelling and Classification Update.
Over the past few months, we've been quietly building out the foundations for our Labelling & Classification workstream. That's included developing a suggested label set for Scottish local authorities, a prerequisites checklist, a phased implementation breakdown, and a set of communications resources to support rollout.
We're planning to officially launch the workstream in July and we'd love councils to be involved. If you'd like to participate or find out more, please get in touch with Monika and Euan. In the meantime, you can read a more detailed overview of the workstream on the Digital Office Resource Centre.
Event Materials: M365 Deep Dive Session on Autopilot Deployment.
Our most recent Technical Deep Dive on 4 June focused on Autopilot deployment. We heard from Jamie McNamara at East Lothian Council and Peter Bainbridge at North Lanarkshire Council, who shared their practical experience of deploying Autopilot across both corporate and education device estates.
If you missed the session, the East Lothian Council recording, Session Q&A document and case studies from both local authorities are now available on our Resource Centre. The North Lanarkshire Council recording will be added in due course. You can also access materials from our previous Cloud-only Entra joined devices session (1 May) to catch up. These resources are particularly useful if device management is on your radar.
Table-Top Cyber Exercises for Scottish Local Authorities.
Last month, our Chief Information Security Officer delivered four cyber exercises for local authorities. We are continuing to offer this service and would particularly highlight the opportunity to Business Resilience, Emergency Planning, IT and Cyber Security teams.
Tabletop exercises are a practical way for councils to identify areas for strengthening their cyber security, while sharing information, ideas and concerns in a safe and confidential environment.
We bring together representatives from SC3, Police Scotland and the Digital Office, giving you access to a wide range of expertise to answer questions and provide real-world examples from the front line. We also produce an After Action Report following each session, which can be used to target interventions and improvements in your resilience. If you are interested, please contact David Ritchie.
Upcoming Events & Opportunities.
Upcoming Service Design Champions Course: Summer and Autumn 2026 Cohorts.
A new Service Design Champions course has been delivered to 25 councils through two training cohorts since May.
The course was developed by the Scottish Government’s Office of the Chief Designer and delivered in collaboration with the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government. Its aim is to upskill colleagues from local authorities in service design and participation.
Our May and June courses saw great engagement from participants, with very positive feedback across the board. We now have dates for our next two cohorts:
Summer 2026 cohort: Monday 24 August – Thursday 27 August
Autumn 2026 cohort: Tuesday 29 September – Friday 2 October
Each cohort runs online over four mornings, from 9:30am to 12:30pm. Participants must be able to attend all four sessions.
These courses will be delivered by the Digital Office in collaboration with service designers from the Local Government Service Design Group.
Please use the form below to register to your interest, if you have any questions please get in touch at info@digitaloffice.scot.
Celebrating Data & AI Literacy – Graduation Event.
We’re excited to invite you to the Data & AI Literacy Academy Graduation event to celebrate your journey on the Data & AI Literacy Academy programme!
This is a chance to recognise the fantastic progress you've made and celebrate ways that your data & AI skills are being applied across Scottish Government.
What to expect:
Hosted by The Digital Office, Scottish Digital Academy and Data & AI Literacy Academy
Celebrate our graduates and award winners
Learner case studies showing how data & AI is already being put to work across Scottish Government and Local Council, led by your peers
What's next in your data journey.
You’ll hear real examples of how your peers are putting their learning into practice and how this is helping to build a stronger data & AI culture across Scottish Government and Councils.
We’d love for you to join us in celebrating your success and all the amazing work that’s taken place over the course of the programme. In the meantime, keep applying your learning, sharing ideas, and staying involved in data & AI initiatives.
This event is open to anyone who is interested in finding out more and getting involved in future cohorts, even if you were not involved in this programme.
Applications are now open for the Leading Digital Transformation in Health and Care for Scotland (PGCert), a fully funded one-year postgraduate programme delivered by the University of Edinburgh.
Designed for current and aspiring leaders, this programme supports those ready to drive change at pace, influence digital transformation, and deliver real impact across health and social care.
Why apply?
Build the skills to lead digital transformation at scale
Apply learning in real-time to deliver organisational and system-wide impact
Develop as a sector-wide leader with influence beyond your role
Connect with a national network of change leaders across Scotland
This is the final cohort of the programme and places are competitive, ideal for individuals who can demonstrate leadership, impact, and a commitment to wider system change.
