Further detail

Digital Strategy

The proposed Digital Strategy is contained within the appendices.

Police Scotland’s 2018 Digital, Data, and ICT Strategy (DDICT Strategy) set out a programme of work to invest in digital, data and technology, to meet and support the changing needs of policing.
Financial analysis of the actual budget allocation (Capital, Reform and Revenue) over the 5 year period of DDICT (18/19 to 22/23) indicates that approximately 50% of the total original request has been funded.
Significant progress has been made against the DDICT Strategy, and there is a further need to optimise existing investments, take advantage of new technologies and meet the changing nature of crime.

Without ongoing investment, Police Scotland will lose ground made over the past four years and will fail to provide the digital, data and technology capabilities that officers, staff and partners require.

The Digital Strategy focuses on articulating how digital, data and technology will support Police Scotland to address the increasing digital demands of today. The Digital Strategy consolidates individual project and programme strategies and technology approaches, ensuring alignment of data and digital components, and bringing an architectural and technical cohesion to delivery.

The Digital Strategy aims to support Police Scotland to adapt to changes in an increasingly digital-enabled world, by enabling our officers and staff with the digital technology that will help them build better partnerships with the public and partners, investigate the evolving nature of crime, and bring more offenders to justice. The next phase of our Digital Strategy is about making a shift from ‘Doing Digital’ to ‘Being Digital’.

The Digital Strategy was developed based on a 5-step model recommended by EY:
Understand the progress to date against the portfolio and projects with a technology element
Focus on future thinking by addressing the mission 'Keeping people safe'
Reimagine a Business aligned Technology Strategy and Roadmap
Reframe the future of Technology function and establish the governance
Deliver Transformation amidst the tension of disruption and delivery

Across these 5 steps the engagement has been significant and has included 32 1-to-1 interviews, 14 operationally focussed workshops and over 160 stakeholders engaged, culminating in a Digital Strategy collaborative event in November 2022 with internal and external/partner stakeholders.

The Digital Strategy is a 5-year plan from 2023 and covers the horizons of ‘Now’ (1-2 years), ‘Next’ (3-5 years) and ‘Beyond’ (5+ years).

It contains a roadmap of current in-flight and new projects and programmes and is based on the following themes:

Tackle crime through our cyber and intelligence led policing capability
Modernise and improve access to our services
Enhance our colleague’s experience by providing the right digital tools
Enable partnership working and secure digital collaboration – for example Blue Light Service Collaboration
Utilise digital technologies and data to improve the wider Criminal Justice System

The Digital Strategy delivery is underpinned by six key enablers:

Data – Recognise Data as an asset
Data Ethics – Essential for continued public trust and confidence
Cyber Resilience – Continuous need to invest in protecting our technology landscape
People – Continue to be at the heart of any change process
Sustainability – The Digital Strategy aims to deliver sustainable solutions, products and services
Investment and Prioritisation – Critical to ensure there is a focus on value in the context of a likely challenging financial landscape

In terms of emerging digital technologies such as, but not limited to, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Facial Recognition it is essential that these are only considered for introduction into operational policing after the appropriate Data Ethics assessments have taken place. The Digital Strategy references and emphasises this process in order to provide necessary assurance to key stakeholders.

Digital Division Target Operating Model

Alongside the refresh of the DDICT Strategy, Digital Division is taking the opportunity to look at how its digital, technology and data services are delivered through ‘Digital Transformed’.

The current Digital Division operating model is not fit for purpose. Since 2018, Digital Division has had limited opportunity to invest in itself, due to funding constraints and project priorities.

We understand that we need to better align with target organisational outcomes, release capacity to meet the emerging needs of Digital Policing, optimise the efficiency of our services, and continue investment in the development of our people.

Through Digital Transformed, the objective was to enable the Digital Strategy, and develop the next generation target operating model (TOM) to help ensure that Digital Division is future-proofed with the right skills, practices and capabilities to become a value-driven digital service.

To deliver and sustain the capabilities we need, we are proposing an investment in Digital Division’s organisation design.

The Target Operating Model (TOM) articulates how the strategy will be enabled; creating a Digital Division (DD) that has the skills, capabilities, processes and tools it needs to be successful. Importantly, to enable Police Scotland to being digital, DD’s ambition is:

“To be the trusted advisor & supplier of digital services to policing in Scotland”. We are an integral part of policing, adapting to changing needs and challenges, and creating high quality digital experiences for officers, staff, and the public.”

The design of the proposed operating model has been informed through extensive collaboration and wider engagement and has included 1-to-1 interviews with 25+ stakeholders, multiple design workshops and 2 Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE) events.
We have ensured that colleagues from P&D have been involved from the outset and have also hosted a series of focus groups; across DD, with our change colleagues and colleagues across PS to discuss the product-centric operating model concept.

For Digital Division colleagues there has also been participation in the ASE event(s), regular updates and newsletters from the CDIO, and the establishment of change champions.

To deliver the capabilities, working practices and cultural changes needed; a new organisation design is being proposed.

Importantly, we are proposing to bring the Chief Data Office (CDO) into Digital Division. The rationale for this is, as follows:

Secure by Design” and “Privacy by Design” - Embedding technical and information security throughout digital & data product delivery is part of the Government Cyber Security Strategy (outcome 9) and Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data (commitment 11). The Cabinet Office is leading this programme to help all public bodies to adopt a common approach for securing digital & data services; aiming to ensure appropriate and proportionate security and privacy measures are embedded within the delivery of digital & data services from the start, ensure risks are effectively managed at the right level and on an ongoing basis, and security posture is continually assured throughout the digital & data life cycle.

Digital, data, technology & security as a unified profession - Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) has been created by Scottish Government (and UK Government) as a recognised profession of aligned skills and capabilities, which includes all aspects of security & technical assurance. Importantly, DDaT aims to create of “T-shaped” individuals, whereby data people have broader technology skills, and all data & digital professionals have security and privacy expertise.

Data & digital are powerful together – our refreshed Digital Strategy sees data as a fundamental component of Police Scotland’s transformation. Likewise, in England & Wales, the National Policing Digital Strategy describes data as an essential asset to enable digital transformation; recommending the need to bring digital and data capabilities together.

We are proposing to invest in 54 new permanent roles, alongside making changes to some existing roles. The current permanent establishment within Digital Division (417) and the Chief Data Office (79) equate to 496 FTE (inc. vacancies as at 2022_23).

These new roles will bring new skills and competencies to the Division, enabling the delivery of the target capabilities and agile, product-centric working practices. They will also support us in addressing many of the themes identified within the Current State Assessment and enable us to harmonise spans of controls in alignment with Police Scotland’s organisation design standards.

Digital Division and the CDO’s leadership want to drive a programme to transform the operating model. The key objectives of this transformation will be to implement a target operating model that will:

Invest in our people & the skills we need – adopting industry standard roles definitions and development pathways (i.e., “Skills for the Information Age”) to improve recruitment and retention, grow and develop our own people, creating an attractive workforce offer, in line with other employers - including Scottish Government, the NHS, local authorities

Align to the objectives of the business – orientate everything Digital Division does to the products that officers, staff and the public need, and the platforms that support them, to deliver the Digital Strategy

Continuously improve products & platforms – creating enduring teams analyse & respond to user feedback, directed by Product Owners to prioritise and deliver enhanced user experiences and strengthen our platforms

Be faster & more efficient – enabling our teams to improve products quickly and easily, working within clear guiderails, with all the right expertise working together, automating the way we build/test/deploy changes, and by empowering the right people to make decisions

In addition to a proposed new operating model and organisational structure Digital Division are proposing introducing a Digital Skills Framework.

The Digital Division Current State Assessment and Capability Maturity Assessment, conducted as part of the DDTOM Discovery phase, identified key skills and competency related challenges faced by the Division. These include:

Disparate records of employee skills and a lack of adoption of an industry-standard competency or development framework
Inconsistent technical career and development pathways across areas within the Division
Many job titles and roles (71%) do not always reflect industry models, making it difficult to recruit as potential applicants may not understand roles and find job adverts that are relevant to them
High numbers of vacancies, uncompetitive salaries and unsuccessful recruitment cycles resulting in multiple cycles of adverts and a reliance on contractors
Lack of recruitment programmes, such as apprenticeships and graduate schemes, to target and develop early talent

The implementation of a recognised skills framework, such as Skills for the Information Age (SFIA), provides a common language and structure to assess skills, analyse gaps, develop career pathways, and support recruitment. SFIA was initially developed in the UK before expanding and being recognised globally as the framework for digital skills. It provides flexibility to map both technical and

supporting roles and there are a significant number of resources to support the use of the framework within organisations. SFIA is the most widely recognised digital skills framework and is used extensively across UK public sector organisations.

Strategic Outline Business Case

This document sets out the Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for the delivery of 64 projects within Police Scotland’s Digital portfolio and also for the implementation of the fit for the future Target Operating Model for the Digital Division.
Options have been considered and all address the strategic objectives for the Joint Strategy for Policing (2023).

The Strategic Outline Business Case focuses on the high-level scoping phase for the work. The purpose of this stage is to establish the strategic context for the work, to make the case for change and to determine the way forward.
The SOBC has been prepared in line with the HM Treasury Green Book five case model and will be subject to the governance arrangements that Police Scotland operates. The Green Book process is designed to provide decision makers and stakeholders with a proven framework for structured thinking and assurance that the work:
Provides strategic fit and is supported by a compelling case for change
Will maximise public value to society through the selection of the optimal combination of components, products, and related activities
Is commercially viable and attractive to the supply side
Is affordable and fundable over time
Can be delivered successfully by Police Scotland and our partners
The SOBC is the first in a three-stage process which also covers development of more detailed business cases. The SOBC is presented for options which should be treated on a portfolio basis.
On commission, individual projects and programmes IBCs will be developed, and where required, Full Business Cases (FBC) will be completed. As work progresses through these stages, the comprehensiveness of the case across the Five Case Model increases, and with that, so too does confidence.

The conclusions from each of the SOBC five-case model are summarised below:

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