Scottish Government to reform impact assessments through AI tool

An AI decision making tool is to be adopted by the Scottish Government to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of impact assessments.

“Mull”, which was created by the cooperative Open Data Services (ODS), intends to streamline the process of creating an impact assessment. The platform was developed through the Scottish Government's CivTech programme, which brings public sector organisations together with innovators, to address a problem identified by the Office of the Chief Social Policy Adviser and the Scottish Government Policy Profession.

Tom Lamplugh, head of social policy at the Directorate for Tackling Child Poverty and Social Justice, said that reform of the impact assessment process is needed to improve a system which is currently burdensome, repetitive, and difficult to navigate, with decisions often needing to be made when not all the evidence is fully available.

He said: “There’s a broader opportunity here to use AI to encourage civil servants to think about the possible impacts early on in the process and to overcome some of their perhaps unconscious biases, to think more broadly about the impacts on policy and provide better advice to ministers

“Ultimately, …[we want to] generate better decision making and bring together evidence more effectively”.

“Mull” allows civil servants to converse with a chatbot, which then suggests which impact assessments are required and why. It also proposes a number of research questions while helping direct civil servants to relevant, high-quality data. Following this, “Mull” allows the user to assess and adjust policy design before aiding them to produce a finished document.

Its developers estimate that the tool could save the Scottish Government 750-1500 days a year.

Mollie Hanley, who is in charge of Purpose and Communications at ODS, said that the time that should be spent answering more difficult questions is currently spent simply getting through the process.

She said: “Impact assessments…exist to make governments pause and think, but they’re done under exactly the conditions that make careful thinking hardest.”

She added: “That’s the problem that Mull is built to solve. We’ve built it with policymakers to deliver better advice, better decisions, better policy, and ultimately better outcomes.”

“Mull” is set to be rolled out to other public service organisations as a mature product in 2027. The Scottish Government previously stated that it hoped that the technology developed in response to its challenge would help build Scotland’s reputation as an international leader for public policy, stating that it may also open up broader commercial opportunities for working with other governments.

ODS has previously worked with a range of experts, particularly in the public and third sector, to tackle challenges ranging from rolling out high-speed internet and clean energy, to protecting communities from climate risk, and tackling anonymous company ownership, using data, evidence, and systems-thinking.