21st CENTURY GOVERNMENT UNIT
Modernising Public Services
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Who we are
- We are a Scottish Executive team dedicated to continuous improvement of Scottish public services
- We advise public services on ways to put the needs of the citizen at the forefront of their actions
- We help fund partnership programmes supporting better public service delivery
We help deliver
- Citizen-focused services
- Joined-up working
- Innovation
- Continuous improvement
- Customer choice
- The Executive's broadband strategy
- Access to new technology
We aim to do this by
- Promoting a culture of putting the customer first
- Recognising and supporting public sector excellence
- Encouraging joined-up, easy-to-use service delivery
- Encouraging exchange of best practice
- Encouraging public service partnerships and joint approaches
- Developing procurement of broadband for public services
We have five teams working in overlapping areas:
e-Government - encouraging the use and development of technology to improve public services. We do this through advice and guidance to the public sector on a range of technical issues, including:
- Portal and website development
- Broadening use of internet, WAP phones, and digital TV to increase channels of access
- Developing use of smartcards and digital signatures for access to public services
- Promoting data sharing and convergence in technical standards.
Digital Inclusion - encouraging inclusion through access to new technology. We do this by:
- Providing affordable access to computers and the internet
- Ensuring that people have the necessary skills and confidence to operate computers and the internet
- Publicising the benefits to be gained from using new technology.
Local Government Implementation - supporting local authorities and their partners in delivering better public services by:
- Administering and monitoring the Modernising Government Fund
- Supporting local authorities to achieve Electronic Service Delivery targets
- Supporting the Central Local 21st Century Government Forum
- Supporting consortium programmes including: Customer in Focus: Citizen Account/ Customer Relationship Management; Definitive National Address for Scotland; eCare; Smartcards; Dialogue Youth.
Modernising Government - support for continuous improvement of public services through:
- The Scottish Executive Quality Network
- Promotion of quality schemes such as Charter Mark
- Development of the Openscotland brand for improvement initiatives led by 21st Century Government Unit and our public sector partners
- Communication of the Unit's activities to our stakeholders and customers.
Broadband Procurement - aggregating public-sector demand for broadband infrastructure in the South of Scotland and the Highlands and Islands with the aim of:
- Achieving an affordable solution for the public sector
- Making the broadband connections more affordable and pervasive.
For further information about the Scottish Executive 21st Century Government Unit
please contact:
Liz Hislop on 0131 244 4623 or e-mail liz.hislop@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
or see the openscotland website at www.openscotland.gov.uk
For further information about the Scottish Executive see the website below.
www.scotland.gov.uk