NEWS

As a result of developing national and regional guidelines on Corona-virus (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19), the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government is developing a contingency plan in anticipation of widespread disruption to Digital Partnership activities. 

As part of delivering on the objectives of the Digital Partnership, Digital Office staff travel the length and breadth of the country to visit individual councils. Due to these specific travel patterns, we ourselves are a risk factor for wider national spread. This potential spread could be to council staff that will soon be required to respond to the pandemic: ensuring the continued delivery of vital public services.

To minimise the potential negative impact on your Council and the national response to the Corona-virus crisis, the Digital Office will be taking responsible measures in order to continue supporting the Digital Partnership. These measures include: 

• Advising team members to work from home, where appropriate; 
• Prioritising virtual meetings over face to face meetings, where appropriate;
• • A decision will be made on a case by case basis as to whether an event can be held face-to-face, virtually or postponed to a later date based on official guidance.Continuing the planning of upcoming events and workshops; 
• Re-prioritising projects that could aid councils in enhancing their Business Continuity Plans, such as Office 365 remote working, to support continued service delivery.

In these unprecedented circumstances, project reprioritisation and new timescales will be necessary. Our team are currently producing a revised project roadmap, and this will be communicated to the Partnership as soon as possible. 

The Digital Office remain committed to supporting the Digital Partnership and facilitating shared national products tailored to aid the business continuity of our partners during this period. 

If you have any questions relating to this statement or the work of the Digital Office, please contact info@digitaloffice.scot.

   
Martyn Wallace
Chief Digital Officer