The Scottish Government’s Public Sector AI Team has published a new suite of Artificial Intelligence guidance and resources for Scotland’s public sector, hosted on the Digital Scotland Service Manual (DSSM).
Announcing the guidance on the Scottish Government’s Digital Directorate blog on 31 August 2026, Becca Fairless, Head of Digital Citizen Policy in the Digital Directorate, said the new material is deliberately aimed beyond specialist digital teams. “This guidance is not just for digital specialists,” she wrote. “Decisions about AI use should involve policy teams, operational colleagues, service designers, programme managers and senior leaders. Everyone has a role to play in making sure AI is used responsibly.”
The initial publication focuses on three priority topics: defining responsible use, explaining what transparency looks like in practice, and setting out frameworks for human oversight and accountability. Additional content will be added over time to reflect changes in technology, policy and user requirements.
A single trusted source, iterated over time
A recurring theme in the Scottish Government post is the challenge public sector organisations face in navigating the volume of AI material now in circulation. By placing its guidance inside the DSSM — which already sets standards for the way Scotland’s public bodies design and deliver digital services — the government is trying to give organisations one clear point of reference rather than another parallel document set.
“As interest in AI has grown, so too has the amount of information available. This can make it difficult for organisations to know where to start,” Fairless wrote. “The DSSM is already recognised as playing an important role in supporting consistent approaches to designing and delivering digital services across organisational boundaries. Publishing AI guidance here allows us to build on a trusted platform that already aligns with Scotland’s wider digital public service landscape.”
The approach is explicitly iterative. Fairless said the intention is to develop “a growing resource that responds to emerging technologies, policy developments and feedback from users, meeting the changing needs of Scotland’s public sector as AI adoption progresses” — rather than a “once-and-done set of guidelines”.
Beyond the hype: pragmatic questions for public services
Fairless framed the publication as a deliberate move past the initial wave of AI enthusiasm and towards the practical work of implementation.
“But what is ‘responsible use’? How do we use AI ‘transparently’? What practices do we need to put in place to maintain public trust?” she wrote. “As AI adoption accelerates, it’s important to move beyond the initial excitement, and take a pragmatic look at the questions we face about implementing it safely, responsibly and effectively in public services.”
She quoted the newly appointed Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform, Mr McKee, on the same point: “This is where the real work begins.”
The post also stresses that adopting AI safely in the public sector will require collaboration across organisations. “We know that effective and safe adoption of AI in the public sector will require collaboration. No single team or organisation has all the answers,” Fairless wrote. Colleagues across the public sector are being encouraged to explore the guidance and share feedback, with the Public Sector AI Team taking comment at AI@gov.scot.
The Public Sector AI Team sits within the Scottish Government’s Digital Directorate and, the blog notes, contributes to the wider Public Service Reform programme and supports delivery of the Digital Strategy for Scotland.
For public bodies, contractors, tech suppliers and consultancies operating across health, local government, justice and central government digital work in Scotland, the new DSSM material now becomes the reference point ministers expect them to work from when scoping, procuring or deploying AI in a public-service context.
