Local Government Data for Business

Description

The Scottish Digital Academy and the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government work together to build digital capability across the public sector. 

This offer of professional learning is intended as a pilot to develop data literacy and stewardship skills for those working in local government. In September 2024, the First Minister set out the Scottish Government’s ambitions for the year ahead through the Programme for Government:

• eradicating child poverty
• growing the economy 
• tackling the climate emergency
• improving public services

The purpose of this pilot is to assess an intervention to upskill those working with data where it relates to child poverty. 

Upon registration, successful delegates will be invited to complete a review of prior knowledge and experience and will be placed onto one of two courses:

• Data for Business (awareness and working skill levels)
• Data for Business Pro (practitioner and expert skill levels)

There will be a further offer in 2025 to attend professional learning for data stewardship. 

What will you learn?

For course information, download the learner booklet and review the content for Data for Business and Data for Business Pro.

Eligibility

You must be an employee working in local government and using data related to child poverty. The exact nature of your role will differ from one person to the next, so we are not prescriptive on your remit. You may be working directly with data or you may be using data to make decisions. 

As this is a pilot, you will be expected to provide feedback so that we can assess the impact of the offer. 

Fees and funding

This offer is funded by the Scottish Digital Academy and the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government. There are no fees for participating, however you may be charged a fee if you accept a place and then do not attend. Details are set out in our terms and conditions. 

It is important that you receive approval from your line manager to participate as there is a time commitment. 

Additional information

The courses are facilitated online and will be delivered with one month on, one month off for several months. The exact dates and times will be communicated to those participating once registration is completed (the date indicated on this page has yet to be confirmed). You can let us know if you cannot attend the set dates and times and you can withdraw at this point. 

The time commitment is 1 hour per week for 4 weeks every second month. 

Joining Instructions

Use the registration button to apply for the course. Once registration closes, we will contact you to let you know the outcome and the next steps. The stages are detailed below:

1. Complete the registration form
2. Registrations are reviewed and you will be notified of the outcome
3. If you are successful, you will be invited to complete the final phase of registration
4. You will be contacted by the Data Literacy Academy to begin the course