Goal 2

We are a leading and influential force in safeguarding and public service delivery in Scotland.

Disclosure Scotland brings a unique combination of expertise, insight and operational capability to Scotland’s public protection landscape.

Through the delivery of the disclosure and barring regime, we balance two vital public interests: protecting people from harm while supporting individuals to move on from past behaviour where it is safe and appropriate to do so. This gives us a deep understanding of risk, rehabilitation and the factors that contribute to safer communities.

Beyond our operational role, we hold a rich source of evidence, intelligence and data that can help shape the future of public protection systems across Scotland and the wider UK. By working in partnership with others, we can use these insights to inform policy, drive innovation and support more joined-up approaches to safeguarding.

As a modern and efficient public service organisation, we bring the technical expertise and operational capability needed to design and deliver high-quality services that are responsive, accessible and trusted. Through stronger collaboration, we can contribute not only to better services but also to better outcomes for the people and communities we collectively serve.

We will:

• Joint working 1: Explore opportunities through nurturing existing and developing new delivery partnerships.
• Joint working 2: We will find new ways to be more efficient with our back-office functions, sharing with others and finding new efficiencies.
• Joint working 3: Seek opportunities, as both delivery and policy experts, to use our knowledge and expertise across government to help it deliver its priorities.

Joint working 1

By 2030 we will have grown our partnerships and evolved them in ways that focus on delivering shared outcomes as efficiently and effectively as possible.

We have service delivery partnerships with several organisations and parts of the wider Scottish Government (SG). For example (but not limited to), Police Scotland, Disclosure and Barring Service and Access Northern Ireland, Volunteer Scotland, and the wider public, private and voluntary sector.

We will focus on nurturing our existing partnerships through joint working with a range of organisations. We will seek opportunities to collectively review, and where beneficial, reform our ways of working to achieve better, faster and more efficient outcomes across organisational boundaries.

Joint working 2

As an executive agency of the SG we are part of delivering the government’s vision. Part of this is corporate collaboration, and to fully realise the benefits of Public Sector Reform, we must, and will, consider how we operate as part of this collective through optimising our corporate service provision and consumption.

By applying some of the same principles as with our delivery partnerships by 2030, we seek, through developing and implementing joint working across the Scottish Government and other delivery bodies, a more joined-up, cost-effective and efficient nonproductive system of corporate functions.

Joint working 3

Our policy capabilities, data, systems and technology innovations, our access to customers and successful administration of our services, demonstrate that we have much to offer as part of a collaborative system of public service delivery and public protection.

By 2030 we aim to be seen as an expert in public sector reform. We want to offer our:

• frameworks as a viable source for a variety of public service products
• systems as best practice examples of technical innovation
• data and insights as sources of research
• influence and inform effective public protection and public service delivery policy and practice across Scotland