Action plan – Glasgow, United Kingdom, 2021 – 2023

At-a-Glance

Duration

Sep 2023

Date Submitted

23rd September 2021

Foreword(s)

Glasgow City Council is committed to Open Government principles as essential to our ambitions to be world class in city governance and empowering our citizens. Our City Government has committed to reforming decision-making arrangements to improve transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More, accountability and opportunities for citizens to take part in decisions – Open Government is key to empowering our citizens and improving our ways of working. City partners support Open Government ambitions as an opportunity to achieve improved outcomes for our citizens and reshaping how we use our collective public service resource in Glasgow. The OGP Local Programme will help us deliver an impactful Open Government Action Plan in Glasgow to accelerate progress and develop our learning.

In this first Open Government Action Plan for Glasgow 2021-2023 we will focus on three key areas for improvement, as fundamental pillars for our future Open Government work: participatory democracy, access to information, and building awareness of Open Government in the city. However, our approach will be an ongoing cycle – this first Action Plan for Glasgow represents our first steps and the building blocks for our future work and continuous improvement planning.

Glasgow Community Planning Partners have collaborated on the development of this first Open Government Action Plan, providing the time, commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... and resource to drive forward the OGP Local process in Glasgow – and we will continue to work together to lead and co-ordinate its implementation.

We are delighted to present this first Open Government Action Plan for Glasgow – it is fundamental to our Open Government ambitions and future work, and provides our  commitment to embracing the values of openness, transparency, accountability and participation as essential to improving public services and outcomes for Glaswegians.

Open Government Challenges, Opportunities and Strategic Vision

This subsection details the Open Government Strategic Vision in your local area that should guide the commitments for the action plan period.

What is the long-term vision for open government in your context and jurisdiction?

Glasgow City Council is committed to Open Government principles as essential to our ambitions to be world class in city governance and build on the strength of our people. Our ambitions and future direction are set out within our Strategic Plan 2017-2022, which prioritises empowering our citizens, giving them a stake in what happens in their communities.

Our City Government committed to reforming decision-making arrangements to improve transparency and accountability and opportunities for citizens to take part in decisions – and Open Government was a key feature in the recommendations from our Review of Governance and Accountability Arrangements in Glasgow City Council.

Glasgow City Council will embrace an Open Government agenda, recognising the OGP values and principles of openness, transparency, accountability and participation are essential to improving public services. City partners support an Open Government agenda, which also provides an opportunity to achieve improved outcomes for our citizens and reshape how we use our collective public service resource in Glasgow.

We wish to accelerate Open Government in Glasgow’s recovery from the global pandemic, as economic and social recovery can only succeed by working with our communities and partners, involving them more in decision-making and governance of their local place and city.

What are the achievements in open government to date (for example, recent open government reforms)?

• Extending Participatory Budgeting: Glasgow City Council committed £1million to develop PB pilots in 2018, focused on geographical areas and key thematic issues. The pilots were developed in partnership with communities and local organisations and the Evaluation published in October 2019 confirmed Glasgow has demonstrated a strong commitment and clear vision for inclusive, accessible and inequalities-focused PB.
• Introducing a City Charter: co-produced with citizens and staff, the City Charter is an informal agreement between the council and citizens that lists our shared commitments, aims and standards, and commits to values of being an open, transparent and easily accessible organisation.
• Ensuring citizens are more involved in local and citywide decision making: engaging with our citizens at the earliest stage on policy and service design is essential. Our Summits during 2017 addressed key priorities and challenges in the City such as Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, Transport and Connectivity, and Community Empowerment and the Third Sector.
• Addressing Climate Change: our Climate Emergency Working Group brought together the Council with a range of partners, stakeholders, citizen and activist groups. Its recommendations aim to achieve a carbon neutral Glasgow by 2030 and include; city engagement with residents in climate conversations, growing local action in partnership with communities on climate issues, and exercising community leadership.

What are the current challenges/areas for improvement in open government that the jurisdiction wishes to tackle?

We wish to accelerate the Open Government ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po... in Glasgow, taking open government principles and actions further. In this first Open Government Action Plan for Glasgow we will focus on three key areas for improvement, as fundamental pillars for our future Open Government work:

• Participatory Democracy and devolving decisions to the lowest level in the city’s governance and investigating local governance arrangements to achieve this. Feedback in our open government engagement was that too often communities and organisations are involved after decisions have been made;
• Access to Information has been a central theme in our engagement on Open Government with communities and the Third Sector – communities and organisations lack access to information to make/understand decisions, have difficulty in finding and accessing information which is made available, and have the ability feedback, ideas and opinions on programmes and initiatives; and
• Building Awareness and Communications on Open Government – developing awareness, knowledge and capacity on open government across Glasgow City Council, Community Planning Partners, and within the Third Sector and Communities. This will allow us to expand our open government community within Glasgow to inform our Action Plan commitments. It will ensure Glasgow develops the co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive..., increases levels of engagement and participation, and benefits from enhanced and innovative techniques and methodologies.

What are the medium-term open government goals that the government wants to achieve?

The medium-term Open Government goals for Glasgow are:

• Participatory Democracy and devolving decisions to the lowest level in the city’s governance – involving local people in decisions on local service provision, service design and public sector spend, and investigating transparent local governance arrangements to achieve this such as Citizens Panels. Achieving local decisions informed by local people, increased community ownership and management of local services, and a strengthening of local democratic processes to transform the relationship between citizens, empowered communities and community groups, and local public service.
• Exploring an Open Digital Engagement Platform where citizens can share proposals for neighbourhood and city improvements – enabling communities and third sector organisations participation in local debate and decision making by providing an accessible platform to source ideas, access and share local information, and collaborate and vote on local proposals; and
• Co-creating an Open DataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... Hub with Communities – where citizens can access, and interact with, a broad range of datasets from Glasgow City Council and partner organisations. This will ensure communities and organisations have ease of access to information, through datasets, informative visuals and interactive dashboards, and data stories, which inform and influence public debate and decision-making (access, accessibility and availability).

How does this action plan contribute to achieve the Open Government Strategic Vision?

Glasgow’s strategic ambition to be world class in city governance is central to our open government approach, with our people at the heart of our ambitions and future direction. This first Open Government Action Plan for Glasgow is driven by these ambitions and focuses on early priorities to reform decision-making arrangements by improving transparency, accountability and opportunities for our citizens to take part in local and city decisions and build our open government network in the city.

The Open Government Action Plan will contribute to the achievement of our Open Government Strategic Vision specifically by: improving our ways of working; increasing opportunities for citizens to be involved in local service design and spend; and providing the information required to enable informed participation and decision-making.

We will develop our successful Participatory Budgeting pilots and move towards Participatory Democracy – to explore devolving of decisions to the lowest level in the city’s governance and investigating the local governance arrangements to achieve this.

We will increase opportunities for participation in local debate and provide the information required for informed decision-making by exploring an Open Digital  Engagement Platform.

We will co-create an Open Data Hub with Communities – providing public information to inform participation and decision making that is suitable, available, and accessible.

How does the open government strategic vision contribute to the accomplishment of the current administration’s overall policy goals?

In December 2018, Glasgow City Council committed to embracing an Open Government agenda, recognising the OGP principles of openness, transparency, accountability and participation are essential to the Council’s ambitions to be world class in city governance.

The Open Government Strategic Vision contributes to Glasgow City Council’s Strategic Plan 2017-2022 overall ambition to embed social justiceTo address barriers that prevent citizens from having their justice needs met, OGP participating governments are working to expand transparency, accountability, and inclusion into all systems of justi... in our policy making, and to empower our citizens, giving them a stake and say in what happens in their local communities and communities of interest. In delivering the Strategic Plan, the Council wants to see improved ways of working including: creating more opportunities for our citizens to become involved in local decisions that affect their neighbourhoods, on how money is spent, and how services are developed; and partnership working with all those who can help us build a better Glasgow.

Our Open Government Strategic Vision, and Action Plan Commitments, will contribute and elevate our progress towards the Council’s strategic priorities of Resilient and Empowered Neighbourhoods, and, A Well Governed City that Listens and Responds. There is a direct link between our Open Government Action Plan and our strategic outcomes including: citizens and neighbourhoods can influence how services are developed and budgets spent; the Council has open and transparent decision making; citizens are more involved in local and citywide decision making; and we listen to citizens and respond.

Engagement and Coordination in the Open Government Strategic Vision and OGP Action Plan

Please list the lead institutions responsible for the implementation of this OGP action plan.

• Glasgow City Council (Chief Executive’s Department)
• Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
• Glasgow Third Sector Interface Network
• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
• Police Scotland

What kind of institutional arrangements are in place to coordinate between government agencies and departments to implement the OGP action plan?

The Glasgow Community Planning Partnership Executive Group will be the space for Local Government and non-governmental stakeholder participation in the development, implementation and review of the Open Government Action Plan. GCPP is well placed to provide strategic oversight – as an existing partnership bringing together key city partners including voluntary and community sector representatives, and essential in driving the community and citizen empowerment agenda in our city. The GCPP Executive Group will receive updates to allow them to monitor and assess progress on implementation – ensuring improvement activity and capacity and resources are identified.

We have established an OGP Local Team, which has been critical to the development of our Open Government Action Plan – this is a Core Team identified by the GCPP Executive Group to take forward the planning and implementation of Glasgow’s Open Government process. This core team is drawn from city partners has provided the time, commitment and resource to drive forward the OGP process in Glasgow. This Team will now be expanded to include Lead Officers and stakeholders for each commitment – with regular progress reports on each commitment reviewed by the OGP Local Team and reported to GCPP Executive Group.

It is not just formal links, informal networks and stakeholder relationships have been maintained – and partnership working arrangements and collaborative approaches result in the ‘Team Glasgow’ approach.

What kind of spaces have you used or created to enable the collaboration between government and civil society in the co-creation and implementation of this action plan? Mention both offline and online spaces.

There were 3 key stages in our co-creation process; evidence review, stakeholder conversations, and Third Sector and Stakeholder workshops – including the following spaces:

• OGP Local Team – a core team to take forward planning and implementation drawn from Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, Glasgow Third Sector Interface Network, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and Police Scotland
• Glasgow Third Sector Interface Network – delivering a critical role in providing information, collating views, and offering participation opportunities to voluntary and community organisations in the city
• Stakeholder Discussions – follow up sessions with stakeholders to further explore scoping exercise results, key initiatives, and inform potential themes
• Third Sector and Stakeholder Workshops – 4 virtual engagement workshops to have conversations on Open Government, contributing ideas, and agreeing broad commitment areas
• Digital Media Channels – Open Government webpage hosted on the Glasgow City Council website providing information, updates, and workshop findings

Glasgow will undertake a final Public Consultation on the Open Government Action Plan in September 2021. This will add value to our co-creation process by providing an opportunity for a conversation on our strategic vision, the implementation of our open government commitments, awareness of open government, and the continued engagement and involvement of our citizens.

What measures did you take to ensure diversity of representation (including vulnerable or marginalized populations) in these spaces?

To ensure diversity of citizen representation in our co-creation spaces, we have focused engagement and invitations to participate through existing stakeholders:

• Glasgow Community Planning Partnership – the 23 Community Planning Area Partnerships ensured geographical representation across the city; and
• Glasgow Third Sector Interface Network – is an established point of liaison between the third sector and public bodies. Glasgow Third Sector Interface Network has delivered a critical role in reaching a diverse range of third sector organisations in the City, with members representing disabled people, BAME communities, and other communities with protected characteristics. The network provided information, collated views, and issued invitations to participate to its membership.

To maximise representation our stakeholder workshops were offered on a number of days, at different times of day and evening, to accommodate the different availability of potential participants.

Glasgow will undertake a final Public Consultation on the Open Government Action Plan in September 2021, this open government conversation will add value to our co-creation process and hopefully provide a further opportunity to increase participation and representation, and involve more Glaswegians in the Open Government agenda. However more diverse representation is a key improvement action for our open government next steps and future engagement and co-creation processes.

Who participated in these spaces?

The co-creation process has involved Glasgow’s Community Planning Partners, with Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, Glasgow Third Sector Interface Network, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and Police Scotland taking a key role and participating in the scoping review and stakeholder conversations.

Our Third Sector and Stakeholder workshop sessions were held with representation from community groups, the third sector, and Local Government – with participation from community groups, Community Councils, voluntary sector organisations, advice charities and Elected Members. Part of the work undertaken at this stage was to raise awareness of the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More and what Glasgow’s involvement means. It is anticipated that the information prepared and distributed will result in increased participation moving forward, and has informed our Building Awareness and Communication on Open Government commitment.

Glasgow will also undertake a final Public Consultation on the Open Government Action Plan in September 2021, providing a further opportunity for engagement and a public conversation on Open Government.

How many groups participated in these spaces?

18

How many public-facing meetings were held in the co-creation process?

23

How will government and non-governmental stakeholders continue to collaborate through the implementation of the action plan?

The collaboration of government and non-governmental stakeholders will continue throughout the implementation of our Open Government Action Plan. Our OGP Local Team, which was established and critical to the development of our Action Plan, will continue to meet regularly to take forward planning and implementation, review progress on thematic commitments, and undertake progress reporting to the GCPP Executive Group. The OGP Local Team will now be expanded to include the Lead Officers and key stakeholders for each of Glasgow’s Open Government commitments to improve collaboration and increased Third Sector participation.

It is essential that we develop co-creation and collaboration in the implementation of our Action Plan. We will now establish thematic commitment groups, or use exiting working groups where they currently exist, to: extend participation for co-creation; collaborate on the development and implementation of our commitment actions; and shape improvements and design solutions. The thematic commitment groups will provide the collaborative space, expertise, and resources to drive forward the open government milestones and commitments.

The Building Awareness and Communications on Open Government commitment will be an important feature in the continuing collaboration of government and non-government stakeholders – building a strong open government communications plan and raising awareness and capacity on open government across all stakeholders.

Please describe the independent Monitoring Body you have identified for this plan.

University of Glasgow

Provide the contact details for the independent monitoring body.

• Des McNulty,  Honorary Fellow (Civic Partnership and Place Leadership), University of Glasgow

What types of activities will you have in place to discuss progress on commitments with stakeholders?

Glasgow Community Planning Partnership will provide strategic oversight of our Open Government Plan – regular updates will allow city partners to undertake programme monitoring and assess progress on implementation, ensuring improvement activity and capacity and resources are identified across strategic partners to achieve commitment outcomes.

The Glasgow OGP Local Team will be expanded to include the Lead Officer and key stakeholders for each of Glasgow’s Open Government Commitments – this will ensure the OGP Local Team have regular progress reports on each commitment and can review progress on implementation. The OGP Local Team will provide 6-monthly progress reports to the Glasgow Community Planning Partnership Executive Group.

Our Open Government Thematic Commitment Groups will have responsibility for implementation, and a key function will be for thematic experts to have initial discussion and assessment on progress, achievements and improvement actions. The thematic commitment groups will provide quarterly progress reports to the OGP Local Team.

How will you regularly check in on progress with implementing agencies?

Glasgow Community Planning Partnership will provide strategic oversight of our Open Government Plan – regular updates will allow city partners to monitor and assess progress on implementation, ensuring improvement activity and capacity and resources are identified across strategic partners to achieve commitment outcomes.

The OGP Local Team will be expanded to include the Lead Officer and stakeholders for each commitment – this will ensure the team have regular progress reports on each commitment and can review progress on implementation. The OGP Local Team will provide 6-monthly progress reports to the GCPP Executive Group.

Our Thematic Commitment Groups will have responsibility for implementation, and a key function will be for thematic experts to have initial discussion and assessment on progress, achievements and improvement actions. The Thematic Commitment Groups will bring together key stakeholders with responsibility for implementing and driving forward an open government commitment for Glasgow. They will have a lead partner, and an identified Lead Officer, with the Lead Officers attending the OGP Local Team – providing a regular opportunity for discussion and engagement on progress. The Thematic commitment groups will submit a quarterly progress monitoring report to the OGP Local Team. Glasgow City Council will bring together Open Government commitment leads on a monthly basis to discuss forward planning, commitment actions and status, and implementation issues.

How will you share the results of your monitoring efforts with the public?

Glasgow City Council’s Open Government webpage will be regularly updated to share the progress and performance monitoring reports with our citizens – this webpage will be used to share all Open Government information with the public including our Open Government Action Plan, co-creation processes and results, events, opportunities to participate, and progress monitoring. During the co-creation and engagement phase we have identified, and can begin to form, a network of interested citizens – and have committed to providing regular updates as the programme progresses so they can continue to be involved. A key component of our final Public Consultation will be a conversation about approaches to share results, progress, and opportunities to participate. In the meantime, the OGP Local Team will consider developing a public tracking dashboard for publication on the open government webpage, providing information on the progress on Open Government Action Plan commitments and implementation.

The final Public Consultation on the Open Government Action Plan in September 2021 will be essential in how we further develop our communications and tools to share open government progress and results with the public – and this will inform our Open Government Communications Plan as part of the Building Awareness and Communication on Open Government commitment.

Endorsement from Non-Governmental Stakeholders

• Cheryl McCulloch, Senior Project Manager, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
• Kathleen Caskie, Manager, Glasgow Third Sector Interface Network
• Nichola Brown, Health Improvement Manager, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
• Lynn Ratcliff, Superintendent, Police Scotland
• Glasgow Community Planning Partnership
• City Administration Committee, Glasgow City Council