Ministerial Foreword
Our public services form an integral part of modern Scotland and we are committed to ensuring they are amongst the best in the world. Improving our use of information and communication technology is vitally important to achieving this.
We must utilise the many benefits offered by technology to provide better public services in new ways, with greater choice for individuals in how they access services. The development of the systems that support service delivery, using common systems and interoperable standards, will allow greater sharing and co-operation between public sector organisations and allow improvements in the delivery of public services.
This document sets out common standards for use in public service delivery organisations and it provides a Scottish framework for developing and approving interoperability standards that support the delivery of electronic services. It forms the crucial foundation for achieving joined-up and shared public services, where systems are developed collaboratively and good practice is shared. Interoperability is a vital consideration for everyone it is not something that is confined to systems development, but has to be a crucial element of how we develop our architecture in terms of the people, the processes and the technology together.
I am also keen to ensure that where we fund projects and programmes through the Scottish Executive or our public sector partners that this funding is conditional on a presumption in favour of delivering interoperable solutions to approved standards. This will ensure that we get value for money and solutions that do not operate in isolation for a specific purpose, but that can be joined to other areas to deliver efficient and effective public services.
This update of the Openscotland Information Age Framework demonstrates our commitment to work with public service delivery partners to ensure that we continue to build interoperable and standards compliant systems to support and deliver more efficient, integrated public services. I would therefore ask our partners at all levels, to put interoperability at the heart of transforming our public services.
Tom McCabe, MSP
Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform