6 - Digital Strateg 2025-2030 Update
Renfrewshire Council · 23 April 2026
Back to Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board — 23 April 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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PUBLIC ___________________________________________________________________ To: Finance Resources and Customer Services Policy Board On: 23 April 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Director of Finance and Resources ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Digital Strategy 2025 – 2030 Update ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 The Council’s Digital Strategy 2025 – 2030 was approved by the Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board in April 2025. Since its approval, the Council has made strong progress in delivering the Digital Strategy 2025 – 2030 which is built around six strategic themes in support of four strategic objectives. 1.2 Annual progress reports are to be presented to members for noting and scrutiny. The purpose of this report is therefore to provide members with an update on the progress made within the last 12 months. 2. Recommendations 2.1 Members are requested to: a) Note the progress achieved over the past 12 months in delivering the Council’s Digital Strategy 2025 – 2030. b) Note that the next progress report will be submitted for scrutiny in April 2027. _________________________________________________________ 3. Background 3.1 We have made significant progress in recent years to invest in digital technology and services, changing how we work and how our customers interact with us.
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PUBLIC The Digital Strategy 2025 - 2030, which was developed using customer insights and in consultation with senior managers from across the Council, builds on the success and learnings from our previous strategy, and recognises the need for bolder, Council-wide transformation. To ensure the successful delivery of this, we identified the need for a strengthened corporate approach. We have created a coordinated programme of work, built around six strategic themes in support of four strategic objectives. We recognise that five years is a long time, particularly in the digital world, so we will conduct a review of the strategy after year two, to ensure our objectives are still relevant and aligned. The four strategic objectives are: • Our employees and residents will be digitally capable and supported in the use of digital solutions. • We will achieve corporate transformation with a single coordinated approach that breaks down operational silos. • Data will become a critical asset to us and the backbone to our transformation and future decision making. • We will be a modern organisation, where our services, people and culture are ready to deliver for the future. Achievement of these objectives is being managed through a programme of work built around the following six strategic themes, which have been developed in consultation with senior managers: • Digital Inclusion. • Data. • Our Technology and Infrastructure. • Digitally Enabled Workforce. • Leadership and Culture. • Digital Public Services. 3.2 Theme 1 Digital Inclusion 3.2.1 Renfrewshire continues to advance a nationally recognised, partnership‑led digital inclusion programme that helps residents access devices and connectivity, build essential digital skills, and confidently use online public services in an increasingly digital world. Progress to date includes DigiRen, Citizens Voice Forum, and National Recognition and Alignment. 3.2.2 DigiRen • Partnered with SCVO to establish an Essential Digital Skills baseline and presented the 2024/25 annual impact report Creating a Fairer and Digitally Inclusive Renfrewshire during DigiKnowVember.
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PUBLIC • 170+ events registered as part of DigiKnowVember, engaging 1,200+ participants through workshops, webinars, and community activities to boost digital confidence. • The Network now includes 200+ individuals from 70+ organisations (Renfrewshire-based and national), deepening collaboration and extending support into more settings. 3.2.3 Citizens Voice Forum • Members collaborate to advance digital inclusion priorities, access, skills, confidence, and meaningful use, ensuring no community is left behind. • The Fairer Renfrewshire Fund continues to support the Digital Champions project, delivering 2,000+ volunteer hours and helping 800+ learners, scaling peer-to-peer learning. • DigiZones have seen 71,000+ visits, offering free device access, public Wi- Fi, and tailored support. An early-phase evaluation is underway to inform future scaling, with refined quarterly impact reporting. • The Pachedu ‘E-Quality Access’ project, a community-led device reuse initiative, soft-launched during DigiKnowVember and is in the process of rolling out across four pilot libraries, reducing e-waste, promoting sustainability, and supporting RenZero goals. 3.2.4 National Recognition and Alignment • Renfrewshire is the only Scottish Council referenced in the refreshed national Digital Strategy for its leadership in digital inclusion. • Digital inclusion is embedded as a standalone strategic priority within Renfrewshire’s ambitious Digital Strategy and the CLD Plan 2024–2027. 3.2.5 Renfrewshire’s digital inclusion approach continues to evolve, with ambitious plans for 2026 that include signing Scotland’s Digital Inclusion Charter to align with national standards, exploring data-driven insights to predict and prevent digital exclusion, and developing a Digital Inclusion e-learning module with the Scottish Government, initially for the third sector and later for citizens. Furthermore, we will look to expand DigiZones into Health & Social Care Partnership venues, leverage community benefits in contracts to create opportunities for communities and third sector partners, support the rollout of MyCare.Scot to enable digital access to health and care services, and publish the DigiZones early implementer evaluation report to inform scaling and continuous improvement.
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PUBLIC 3.3 Theme 2 Data 3.3.1 The Data Strategy Framework, developed and approved in 2023, was reviewed and updated to ensure it continues to be fit-for-purpose. Service Improvement Plans have been updated across all Directorates to include data improvement activities, ensuring appropriate visibility and tracking of progress. Activities are relevant to each Directorate based on requirements aligned to the Data Strategy but broadly includes data analysis and visibility for senior decision makers, dashboard opportunities, Customer Services performance statistics, data skills gaps, and data quality improvement activities. The Data Catalogue created and populated by Data Advisory Group representatives, continues to be reviewed and updated, providing a register of Council critical data sets and ownership. 3.3.2 The Data Advisory Group is progressing a range of practical data improvement activities aligning with the Data Strategy Framework, including: • Providing training for identified common skills gaps, such as the practical analysis and management of data, through training videos and supporting discussions lead by the Data Analytics Manager. • A Technical Sub-group has been created to provide a forum for deeper dives into technical data challenges, such as address consistency across systems. • Progressing investigation of data aggregation and processing opportunities on new technologies, through a practical use-case in partnership with HSCP. • Continued support for AI roadmap development. • Providing a place to present and discuss the data-related activities of services, encouraging others to share insights, learn from each other, spot opportunities for collaboration, and improve the value of our data. 3.4 Theme 3 Technology and Infrastructure 3.4.1 The Housing Innovations Project (HIP) is a two-phase implementation with Phase 1 being transition from OHMS - a twenty-year-old housing management on premise system - to NEC Housing as a cloud-based service. Phase 1 focuses on housing management and creating a streamlined integrated and scalable management system harnessing modern technology to provide a better user experience and ultimately benefiting our tenants by providing a more streamlined, aligned service. Since contract signing with NEC and kick off in January 2025, the project team has conducted over 70 solution design and configuration sessions across rents, allocations, estates, anti-social behaviour, Customer Services, servicing and interfaces and integrations with finance, GIS and document management. The team have also embedded a benefits realisation approach, completed test cycle 1 and developed a training programme for end users. HIP Phase 1 is due to go live in late 2026.
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PUBLIC 3.4.2 November 2025 saw the successful launch of the new Procure to Pay (P2P) service comprising an improved P2P operating model and the launch of the Business World Procurement Module replacing PECOS. This launch was the culmination of months of work from Finance, Business World ERP and Procurement colleagues, supported by the Project Management team and in collaboration with colleagues from across the organisation. Following the successful launch of the P2P service, the team will continue to improve use of data, gain the most from the new technology’s capability, and make interactions with suppliers as efficient as possible. As with Phase 1, the team will engage across the organisation to harness local knowledge, promote innovation and optimise the design of the operating model going forward. 3.4.3 In 2025, major steps were taken to strengthen cyber resilience and protect the Council’s digital assets, successfully passing Public Services Network (PSN) and Payment Card Industry (PCI) accreditations, ensuring we meet the highest security standards. The team rolled out mandatory cyber training for all staff to boost awareness and safe practices. This includes phishing awareness training for staff who click once on phishing campaign emails, plus follow- up tutor-led training for staff who click more than once. The Classification Scheme & Sensitivity Labelling for Corporate and Schools staff was successfully rolled out in November and the team supported Civil Contingency Business Continuity Planning (BCP) events to raise cyber risk awareness among departments and senior leadership. The team also implemented password strength testing and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) rollout across the Council. Both of these were significant activities and further enhance the protection of the Council network. 3.4.4 The reduced Council print estate was rolled out by the end of November 2024 and all sites have access to a printer. From that point the Council has been securing savings on lease costs and the project continues to work with services to reduce the volume of printer usage to further reduce the costs to the Council with regular reports on usage taken to the Performance Board. In June 2025 the Council moved to fully using recycled paper across the print estate. This also adds to the savings being generated and positively contributes to the Council’s Net Zero objectives. 3.5 Theme 4 Digitally Enabled Workforce 3.5.1 In 2025, significant progress was made in digital learning and upskilling, particularly in how learning is assigned, tracked, and reported. Integration between Business World ERP and iLearn has been central to these improvements.
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PUBLIC 3.5.2 In 2025, we started using Job Characteristics in Business World ERP to simplify the assignment of mandatory learning to specific positions. This ensures our approach is more scalable and allows for more granular and role specific learning assignment moving forward. 3.5.3 Using the Job Characteristics in Business World ERP, and in particular the option to alert users when required courses have not been completed, allowed learners to stay on top of their own learning proactively. This has resulted in mandatory completion levels across all services going up to record levels from 56% at the end of 2024 to 87% at the end of 2025. 3.5.4 To ensure inclusivity, we also worked with front line colleagues to offer ‘Tool Box Talks’ alternatives. With a huge effort from Environment, Housing & Infrastructure in particular, this has resulted in well over 1,000 mandatory course completions for front line, non-networked colleagues who we would not have been able to reach historically via the digital approach. 3.5.5 Over and above the mandatory learning, iLearn has been widely used for all types of e-learning courses, with over 8,000 colleagues accessing iLearn and completing a total of 73,500 courses in 2025 alone. This has again highlighted the effectiveness of iLearn and e-learning for reaching and upskilling a wide audience. 3.5.6 To strengthen quality assurance and ensure continuous improvement, feedback forms were embedded within all mandatory and corporate induction, as well as newly added courses in iLearn. These allow colleagues to rate each course out of four stars and provide optional written comments. Introduced around a year ago, this approach has already generated over 25,000 responses, with an average 3.57 rating out of 4 (and less than 1% giving 1 star). We continue to act on feedback provided as we get it, including cleaning up quizzes or fixing links. 3.5.7 Work has started on using the Course Schedular feature of Business World ERP, allowing instructor led courses to be scheduled, and attendance recorded in Business World ERP directly. This will ensure both instructor led, and e- learning course completions are recorded and tracked via Business World ERP for a comprehensive learning record. 3.5.8 Work has been done to establish essential digital skills for networked colleagues at Renfrewshire Council, based on the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations framework and tailored to our needs. Uptake measures are in place, through insights from M365 usage, course completions as well as network accesses, giving us an understanding of where upskilling is required at all levels.
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PUBLIC 3.5.9 In support of the essential digital skills, and to ensure we are making the most of our M365 licenses, new iLearn courses for each of the M365 apps are being worked on to ensure learners can access relevant support for their role. These courses will complement our existing M365 Learning content accessible directly via the Teams app which provide guides relevant to how the M365 apps are used at Renfrewshire Council. 3.5.10 We are reviewing the corporate induction content as well as processes, to make them mandatory and trackable, with alerts similar to existing mandatory courses. This will ensure new starters meet corporate requirements and gain essential digital skills as needed. This process will also involve capturing alternative induction delivery methods, such as face to face for a more comprehensive and accurate view on corporate induction completion. 3.5.11 Our staff based Digital Champions network continue to meet on a regular basis, sharing best practices around the use of M365 and other Council tools within their services, while also supporting the roll out of Council wide digital initiatives such as Windows 11 and the Green Print initiative. 3.6 Theme 5 Leadership and Culture 3.6.1 Managers now have access to an expanding set of dashboards and reports within Business World ERP, giving them direct visibility of key people information such as mandatory learning compliance, absence data and team-level workforce insights. This shift towards digital self-service supports more consistent and informed management decisions, reduces reliance on manual processes, and helps embed a culture where ERP is fully utilised as the primary source of people information. 3.6.2 Work is underway on a new Leadership Development Programme designed to support managers at different levels across the organisation. The programme will include a strong focus on digital leadership skills, ensuring leaders understand both the digital tools available to them and the behaviours and mindset needed to operate confidently in a modern, data-driven organisation. 3.6.3 A new set of mandatory courses specifically for line-managers is being introduced and will be managed and tracked through Business World ERP. The first course to launch is Managing Absence, which will help establish a consistent baseline of expectations for anyone with line-management responsibilities. Additional modules will follow to ensure managers are equipped with the knowledge and behaviours required for effective people management and digital adoption.
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PUBLIC 3.6.4 The Digital Champions network continues to play a key role in building a collaborative digital culture across services. Work is ongoing to expand the network, while supporting Champions to assist their colleagues digitally, including supporting the rollout of new systems and tools. This peer-support model reinforces digital growth, encourages colleagues to make fuller use of the Council’s digital tools — particularly our M365 apps — and helps embed the behaviours needed for a modern, digitally confident organisation. 3.7 Theme 6 Digital and Public Services 3.7.1 The introduction of Millie, the Council’s AI phone assistant, has resulted in significant improvements in customer service performance, channel shift, operational efficiency, and citizen experience. As of November 2025, across 380,606 AI-handled calls, Millie has accurately answered 134,777 questions, reducing pressure on Customer Service Advisors and offering residents a faster route to information 24/7. Deflection rates - one of the strongest indicators of AI success - show a clear and sustained ability to autonomously resolve queries. When excluding auto-escalations, Millie has achieved 39.82% effective deflection, meaning four out of ten people receive everything they need through the AI without requiring a human advisor. In recognition of this cutting-edge project, Millie and the Customer Services team were recognised at the COSLA Excellence Awards and more recently at the Holyrood Scottish Public Service Awards. Based on the success of Millie, and learning established from the AI innovation being progressed by other Councils across the UK, an AI Transformation Assessment has been progressed by the Council, supported by ICS.AI, our procured AI partner. 3.7.2 The Digital Experience (DxP) team successfully launched the new Council website, streamlining the website, improving navigation for users, and enhancing the overall user experience. This is a UK first and this user-centric approach has drawn positive attention from senior figures at GOV.UK and the Scottish Government. A Consultations Hub has been created, streamlining public consultations and encouraging greater community engagement with council initiatives. In addition, the team modernised our communications by transitioning to the Sendgrid platform, which now enables us to reach residents more effectively through email, SMS, and WhatsApp. The DxP programme has ambitious plans for the coming year. The team will complete the migration and update of all remaining content to the new website. The intranet will also see significant improvements, with priority content being rewritten and moved to enhance internal communications and resources. The Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) website is set to be fully integrated into Renfrewshire.gov.uk, further unifying our digital presence. Finally, the team are preparing to support the future use of AI at the Council, ensuring the Council remains at the forefront of digital innovation.
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PUBLIC 3.7.3 The Digital Portfolio has a Digital Board, with representation from across all Council services and partners. It also has Elected Member representation. The purpose of this Board is to support successful delivery of the in-focus projects, provide assurance and help to overcome challenges and barriers that may impact progress. It is also a useful forum for information sharing and to support each other to deliver on key priorities. The Board meets approximately 6 times a year. Digital is increasingly part of our everyday life, and as such most projects undertaken regardless of the programme or portfolio of work, will likely have a digital implication. Over the coming months, and to ensure that decisions regarding digital solutions are being made with all key subject matter experts round the table, the team are proposing to establish a Change Advisory Board (CAB). It will be expected that services will bring new projects to a CAB meeting for discussion before they can proceed. Only once approval at CAB can the project then proceed for corporate monitoring via the Transformation Board. Depending on the nature of the project, and whether they align with the Digital Strategy’s strategic objectives, they may become an in-focus project for the Digital Board. 3.7.4 The Smart Social Housing (SSH) project sets out an ambition to develop a business case opportunity to secure the deployment of market leading fibre broadband connectivity and smart sensor assets into the Council’s social housing units at no cost to the tenant. 3.7.5 As outlined earlier in the report, the Council has successfully driven forward the development of Millie, our Digital AI Advisor since her launch in November 2024. During the implementation of Millie and its associated success as a transformation project, it was recognised that the Council was at the forefront of AI development in Scotland and as part of sourcing suitable partner Councils to work with, opportunities have been explored on a wider basis across the UK. In this context, the Council officers have established productive relationships and regularly engaged with Derby City Council who have also launched an AI driven Digital Advisor called ‘Darcie’ as part of a wider corporate transformation programme underpinned by AI innovation. In December 2024, Derby City Council announced a corporate wide AI innovation programme as a key part of their overall transformation and financial saving programme. This programme has been underpinned by an AI Transformation Assessment which was undertaken by the council with the help of an external AI partner. An AI Transformation Assessment is designed to support a council to evaluate current AI readiness, identifying opportunities for AI-driven improvements, and developing a structured roadmap for AI adoption. Derby City Council have welcomed establishing a working relationship with the Renfrewshire Council and have been open and highly collaborative in sharing their journey thus far to develop their AI capability.
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PUBLIC It is envisaged that the working partnership will provide future opportunities to jointly share best practice as well as development capacity to support accelerated adoption by both organisations. 3.7.6 Based on the success of Millie so far, and learning established from the AI innovation being progressed by Derby City Council (and some other local authorities across the UK), an AI Transformation Assessment has been progressed by the Council over the second half of 2025, supported by ICS.AI, our procured AI partner. The work progressed during 2025 has seen the completion of a significant programme of stakeholder engagement, workshops, data analysis, financial validation solution demonstrations and trials. This AI Transformation Assessment has provided the Council with a developing understanding of how AI solutions can enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve service delivery. Senior officers from across all Council services have been actively working with our AI partner on a challenge and validation stage to ensure that the output from this critical initial assessment stage is sufficiently credible and robust to support the development of a full business case. 3.7.7 This business case is now complete and has been reviewed and approved by the Corporate Management Team in March 2026. The business case provides a clear understanding of the scale of opportunity and the key priorities for building on the success of Millie and progressing the Council’s sector leading development of AI capability. It presents a strategic pathway to achieve both financial sustainability and service excellence through targeted artificial intelligence implementation. A key part of the business case is the implementation of AI which will require strong governance arrangements. The Council recognises that as AI becomes a larger part of public service delivery, ethical governance and transparent safeguards are essential to protect residents’ rights, prevent bias, and ensure AI continues to support key services and our valued workforce. As AI technologies learn over time, ongoing oversight and regular updates to elected members are necessary to ensure safe, transparent and responsible use as these systems evolve. 3.7.8 Throughout the development of the business case, it has been highlighted the significance of maintaining human oversight in decision making even where AI tools are integrated to alleviate administrative burdens. This represents one of the most significant digital transformation opportunities for Renfrewshire Council over the medium term to support the delivery of both financial savings but critically delivery of better services and outcomes but also improved ways of working as an organisation and better supporting and equipping our workforce. This transformation represents significant strategic investment requiring robust risk management.
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PUBLIC All risks have been comprehensively assessed with detailed mitigation strategies (e.g. staff adoption and change resistance, savings not materialising as projected, data quality and availability, etc.). The overall risk assessment is classed as manageable with comprehensive mitigations. The Council can proceed with confidence that both financial and delivery risks are manageable and protected. 4. Next Steps (2026) 4.1 The next year looks to be an equally busy and exciting time for the digital portfolio programme of work. We will continue to prioritise work that meets the key objectives and themes as articulated in our Digital Strategy (2025–2030). 4.2 The validation of an AI business case focussed on opportunities to further deploy AI technologies across the organisation, including a roadmap for implementation. 4.3 Following the successful launch of our P2P service, we will continue to improve our use of data, gain the most from our new technology’s capability, and make our interactions with suppliers as efficient as possible. As with Phase 1, we will engage across the organisation to harness local knowledge, promote innovation, and optimise the design of the operating model going forward. 4.4 The Data Advisory Group (DAG) will continue to be essential moving forward in supporting our digital transformation activities. 2026 will see the ongoing creation of a Technical Sub-group for deeper dives into technical data challenges. DAG will also be progressing the investigation of data aggregation and processing opportunities on Microsoft’s Fabric platform, through a practical use-case. Fabric could be crucial for the success of further AI opportunities as a go-to location for trusted, accurate data. 4.5 Signing up to Scotland’s Digital Inclusion Charter, reinforcing our commitment to national standards and exploring innovative ways to predict and prevent digital exclusion using data-driven insights, aiming to identify risk factors before they become barriers. The team will also be publishing the DigiZones early implementer evaluation report, sharing lessons and successes to inform future scaling.
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PUBLIC Implications of the Report 1. Financial The Digital Strategy 2025 - 2030 is supporting the Council’s ongoing financial sustainability which is dependent on the ability of the Council to transform and modernise services. 2. HR & Organisational Development – None. . 3. Community/Council Planning Renfrewshire’s Council Plan 2022-2027 sets out how we will work with partners, communities and business to achieve lasting positive change across Renfrewshire. The Council Plan has five strategic outcomes, these are - Place, Economy, Fair, Green and Living our Values. Our digital ambition threads through all of these strategic outcomes and the delivery of this Digital Strategy will support the Council to achieve our vision for Renfrewshire, taking into consideration of national digital initiatives. Across Council services, Service Improvement Plans (SIP) act like delivery plans for the Council Plan, showing how service activity contributes to the overall delivery of our strategic outcomes. Similarly, our digital progress can also be reported through SIP where appropriate. The Council has developed four core values which guide how we deliver our services and make decisions every day. All of these values are relevant to the Digital Strategy, but collaboration and learning are key to the successful delivery of our digital vision. 4. Legal - None. 5. Property/Assets – None. 6. Information Technology – As outlined in the report. 7. Equality & Human Rights – None. 8. Health & Safety - None. 9. Procurement – None. 10. Risk – None. 11. Privacy Impact – None.
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PUBLIC 12. Climate Change – None. 13. Children’s Rights – None. 14. Cosla Policy Position – None. _________________________________________________________ List of Background Papers Digital Strategy 2025 – 2030. ___________________________________________________________________ Author: Patrick Murray, Head of Digital, Transformation and Customer Services