THE Scottish Government is failing to provide enough “strategic leadership” to deliver its ambition to put digital technology at the heart of all its does, watchdogs have warned.

Audit Scotland said ministers did not know the cost of their goal, failed to establish a baseline before setting it in 2017, failed to monitor some processes and learn from feedback, failed to assign responsibility for some key objectives, and struggled to identify priorities.

The government was also held back by a “significant skills gap”, with relatively modest civil service pay rates making it harder to recruit IT staff.

However a new report also found some good early progress, and praised the Civtech project in which the private sector work helps the public sector develop new IT solutions.

Auditor General Caroline Gardner said: “The Scottish Government is in a unique position to show digital leadership by bringing people together and sharing lessons learned across Scotland’s public sector.

“Governments across the world are facing the same challenge, and bringing about collaboration will not be easy. But Scotland’s relatively small size presents a clear opportunity for the government to move from an operational role to one of strategic leadership and reap all the benefits that shift could bring to citizens and the wider economy.”

Catherine Stihler, chief executive of the Open Knowledge Foundation, added: “This is an important report which must be acted on by Scottish ministers. Digital technology is transforming our society and Scotland is uniquely placed to be a world leader in this field.”

Digital Economy Minister Kate Forbes said: “This report recognises the challenge of delivering the ambitious vision of embedding digital in our public bodies and across our public services. I am pleased that Audit Scotland acknowledges the early progress made by the Scottish Government but we realise that there is more work to be done.”