Digital services

Education | Digital learning

• We will work with our technology partners to offer practical opportunities and advice to our young learners on how STEM subjects can enhance career prospects in the digital world of work

• We will ensure our school ICT networks support the Scottish Government’s proposed provision of a device for every child in Scotland; and we will develop secure solutions that will allow our young learners to use these devices safely and securely wherever they chose to do so

• We will continue to support and deliver devices that can be used by families and pupils where English is not the first choice family language

• We will focus on tackling digital poverty by ensuring digital skills sit alongside literacy, numeracy, and health and wellbeing, as essential skills for life

• Corporate ICT will continue to support our health and social care colleagues to develop and use digital solutions and smart products to help people live independently at home as well as in a care setting
• The introduction of digital telecare will support the shift to a more proactive and preventative approach by using citizens’ data to assess and anticipate user needs

• The health and social care workforce will be digitally connected and skilled, and will use technology to improve practice, with high quality digital health and social care services in place as part of the wider service delivery
• This approach will involve examining digital supports to increase the safety of those employees that are predominantly lone workers

• Corporate ICT will work with the Health & Social Care Partnership's Thinking Differently: Smart Supports Team to create a ‘Smart Hub’ where technology that can support people to live independently at home, and emerging smart home products that can be used in a care setting, can be demonstrated
• This space can be used as a learning resource, allowing for a range of environmental sensors, smart lighting and voice activated assistants to be demonstrated to resource workers, and for service users and their families to see first-hand how technology can benefit them in their own home

• The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical objects embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet
• It is a network that can also support community safety through the deployment of cameras in public realm settings
• We are working with an industry sector partner to install a network of IoT sensors across almost 80% of our local authority area

• Whilst acknowledging that a digital challenge remains within our communities, we should also recognise that for many of our local residents, almost all aspects of their lives are or can be connected and experienced through digital channels rather than face-to-face
• There may be opportunities to complement in-person surgeries with virtual surgeries, using either web applications and social media platforms, or corporate video-conference solutions, adding a new dimension to Elected Member community engagement and relations
• Working with Elected Members, officers from relevant services will consider options for the delivery of digital surgeries, including the technologies that could be used, and the practicalities and protocols of such an online environment

• Colleagues in Housing Services are developing an online self-serve application system which will allow tenants to:
  • make housing applications
  • track their application’s progress
  • check their position on the allocations waiting list and
  • view East Ayrshire housing stock based on their selection criteria
• The end-to-end workflow will also identify any additional information checks required by Housing staff
• Checkpoints will be built in to the system for users who may have difficulty in completing the online form, and telephone support will be provided for non-digital applicants with housing staff completing the application on their behalf
• The platform will bring four separate processes together into one single streamlined application process