Scottish Government activates resilience operations after Microsoft outage

The Scottish Government activated its resilience operations on Friday after a global Microsoft outage disrupted public services, though Justice Secretary Neil Gray said the administration "remains operational and business continues." Councils, Police Scotland, and NHS Grampian reported issues with emails and online forms, with Microsoft saying it was "seeing early signs of stabilisation" but cautioning that service capacity had not yet returned to normal levels. The tech giant said it was working with urgency to fix the problem, which began late Thursday. The outage affected governments, banks, police forces, and health services worldwide. Scottish authorities advised residents to contact them by telephone, with Edinburgh, East Lothian, and Scottish Borders councils issuing public guidance, while NHS Grampian confirmed phone lines and other systems were working normally.