In early 2023, the Scottish government will run a pilot of its own digital identity platform in collaboration with Disclosure Scotland (an agency that provides criminal records). The pilot will provide Disclosure Scotland users with one set of login details that can access multiple services and online ID verification.
During the Think Digital for Government conference, Scotland’s government’s policy head for digital identity Gavin Ross said that the pilot will just have enough features to be usable (minimum viable product), and from there “our focus is on exploring how we support Social Security Scotland and, indeed, health services.”
“There are new benefits and new products being rolled out by Social Security Scotland all the time, and we are also in discussions with our colleagues in health about how we can support the services they provide,” he added.
The digital identity program focuses on three things; secure log-in via two-factor authentication, ID verification, and an attribute store.
ID verification currently uses images of identity verification documents like a driver’s license or passport. However, the government plans to include the EU biometric residency cards and also use knowledge-based verification, like data held by the government.
The attributes store allows users to store verified data in their own space and reuse it for other services. It will not be part of the pilot.
Ross said that the government is working with the UK government, which is developing the One Login digital ID platform.
