FAQs

SWAN was set up in response to the findings of the Scottish Government’s 2011 McClelland Report. The report aimed to review the strategic management of investment in Scottish public sector information and communication technology infrastructure. A key finding of the report was that the public sector was lagging and needed to adopt radical changes in how ICT was adopted and deployed to allow for an "era of sharing in ICT that will offer better value and meet the needs of individual organisations and their customers".

Initially there were four vanguard partners (NHS Scotland, Education Scotland, Pathfinder South (local authorities in the South of Scotland) Pathfinder North (local authorities in the North).   

Today’s SWAN members comprise central Government departments, including the Scottish Government, Scottish Qualification Agency, Historic Environment Scotland and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, all 22 boards across NHS Scotland as well as 50 per cent of local authorities.

In the last annual customer satisfaction survey (2018), SWAN members praised the service for stability and reliability, value for money and enabling collaboration between public sector bodies. Also in 2018, an independent benchmark declared that SWAN provided members with good value both for prices and Service Level Agreements when compared with other similar contracts.

Members particularly value the cost savings they enjoy as a result of being a part of SWAN, the competence and experience of SWAN staff and the benefits of being part of a wider shared services network, such as a single service desk, standard service catalogue and new service development.

There is a simple 7 stage process to join SWAN.

A full list of membership options and benefits are available on our pages.