Disclosure Scotland has joined the Scottish Government programme to develop a national digital identity service.
In an update, Tom Wallace, service customer team lead on the digital identity programme revealed that Disclosure Scotland will work with the programme to enable digital access to disclosure information.
Disclosure Scotland is a government organisation which carries out criminal record checks on people for employers. Kenny Birney, deputy chief executive of Disclosure Scotland, said Scotland has ambitions to be among the world’s leading digital nations. An important part of that is the ability for people to access public services through a simple and secure online mechanism.
“We in Disclosure Scotland are working to transform the critical services we offer, by enabling digital access to disclosure information,” he said. “Due to the very sensitive nature of the information we hold, we need to have a way not only for users to sign in securely but also to verify their identity.
“These needs are not unique to Disclosure Scotland and I am personally very keen to encourage reuse of digital components across the public sector. The Digital Identity Service is an excellent example where this approach should be taken and we in Disclosure Scotland are very excited and proud to be working as a development partner. Together, we will build something that is not just of value to us, but to Scotland.”
Trudy Nicolson, programme director of the Digital Identity Programmes said the service would help transform the way people access Scotland’s public services online, “giving them a quicker and easier way to do so whilst ensuring their security and privacy is maintained at all times.
“The partnership with Disclosure Scotland is a critical step forward towards delivering the live service and reaping these benefits.
“As Scotland’s Digital Strategy emphasises, public sector organisations should make use of the common platforms we are developing when delivering or transforming their digital services. We look forward to working with Disclosure Scotland, and other organisations to encourage take up of the service.
“With this news, and as we approach delivery of the initial ‘Secure Sign On’ and ‘Prove Who You Are’ service, it is a very exciting time for the programme.”
Wallace said that over the next few months, the digital identity service team will reveal more features within all elements of the digital identity service and an updated roadmap.
Secure Sign On
The digital identity service is being developed with technology partner Scott Logic. The initial component of the service will be ‘Secure Sign On,’ which will provide end users with one set of login details to access multiple services. Free for use across the public sector, users can show proof of identity by using technology and basic documentation when applying for a service or benefit using the ‘Prove Who You Are’ element of the digital identity service.
Looking to the future, it will look to develop the service to support the sharing of other verified pieces of information.
“Key to ‘Prove Who You Are’ will be allowing people – if they wish – to save information about themselves which has been proven to be accurate,” said Wallace. “Then, when they seek access to another service in the future which needs some of the same information, they will be asked if they want to share those parts of information. The value and saving comes as that information has already been proven as accurate and therefore doesn’t need to be verified again.
“Across all the elements of the digital identity service, we will support end users in a way that speeds up their access to these services whilst reducing the time, effort and costs to organisations across the public sector in Scotland.”
