In November 2025, the Scottish Government and COSLA published a refreshed Digital Strategy for Scotland — the strategy update Audit Scotland called for over a year earlier. It sets a vision, not a delivery plan: no measurable outcomes, no named accountable lead, and no separate action plan has followed it since.
In August 2024, Audit Scotland told the Scottish Government and COSLA to publish a refreshed national digital strategy and a detailed, measurable delivery plan by the end of 2024/25. Both deadlines passed. In September 2025, Third Force News summarised the position as "no leadership, no momentum."
On 18 November 2025, the Scottish Government published a Digital Strategy for Scotland: vision statement, developed jointly with COSLA. It is real movement, and worth acknowledging as such: it sets out ambitions across inclusive access, digital skills, the digital economy, and public services.
But it is explicitly a vision statement, not the delivery plan Audit Scotland asked for. It does not commit to measurable outcomes or name who is accountable for delivery. Almost a year on from publication, no separate action plan has followed it.
We've updated our accountability tracker to reflect this — crediting the real step while keeping the substantive question open: a plan without a delivery plan is still not a plan.
The Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme, worth up to £5,000 towards a faster connection, closes to new applications on 20 November 2026. In Aberdeenshire alone, 2,089 premises are still eligible and have not used it.
WIRES has sent its submission to the Competition and Markets Authority's inquiry into BT's purchase of TalkTalk, asking that any approval protects prices, guarantees access to a social tariff and recognises the greater effect in rural Scotland. The full text is here. Comments closed on 9 October; the CMA reports by 19 October.
We read the published digital strategies of Scotland's 32 councils. Of the 24 we could verify, only Glasgow has a standalone strategy on digital exclusion. In 22, it is a theme inside a plan about the council's own services. Eight we couldn't confirm.
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