Scottish Government seeks experts to evaluate digital services

Scottish Government building, Vicotria Quay - Image credit: Scottish Government Flickr

The Scottish Government is looking to recruit a pool of experts to ensure public sector digital services meet its Digital First Service Standard.

The standard is a set of 22 criteria, which include being user centred, accessible, open source, data driven and green, that all central government digital services in Scotland will have to meet before going live.

Over the last couple of months the Scottish Government’s Digital First team has been developing the assessment process for evaluating compliance with the Digital First Service Standard.

Roles it is now looking to fill include lead assessors, as well as technical, product, content design, assisted digital, user research and performance assessors.

In a blog post it says: “This is an open invitation for expressions of interest from anyone working in the public sector who works in these roles and has experience of developing a digital service.

“We are keen to hear from those of you who already act as assessors for the Digital by Default standard operated by the Government Digital Service for UK Government departments.

“Your expertise as subject matter experts and previous experience on assessment panels is exactly what we are looking for.”

The team anticipates assessors being asked to take part in two or three evaluations per year, with around one and half days required to prepare for and attend each assessment meeting.

There will also be a half day of training to ensure assessors are familiar with the Scottish Government’s Digital First Service Standard.

The Digital First team is working towards formally launching the assessment process in early 2017.