Additional Support for Learning Project Board minutes: August 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Scottish Government (SG) (CHAIR)
• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
• Education Scotland (ES)
• Education Institute of Scotland (EIS)
• Children in Scotland (CiS)
• SG Early Learning and Childcare Team (SG ELC)
• UNISON
• SG Supporting Learners’ Team (SG)
• Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES)
• National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT)
• Grant Aided Special Schools (GASS)
• ADES Early Years
• SEEMiS (observer)

Apologies:

• Social Work Scotland
• Association of Scottish Principal Education Psychologists (ASPEP)
• His Majesty’s Inspectors Education (HMIE)

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

The Chair welcomed members to the meeting of the Additional Support for Learning (ASL) Project Board (PB), thanking COSLA for hosting. Members were thanked for attending the meeting and apologies were noted. The Chair welcomed Shona McMonagle to the PB, who has replaced Bob Fraser from the Grant Aided Special Schools (GASS) following his retirement. Laurie McCrone from SEEMiS was also welcomed to the meeting, however it was noted to members that their attendance was just as an observer and they would not participate in the meeting.

The Chair confirmed that the minutes from the previous PB meeting were published and received no further comments from members. Actions from the previous meeting were reviewed and update provided by Scottish Government (SG):

ACTION 1: ASL PB members will engage with the ASL Network following the cross-party roundtable, which will inform the scope of the ASL review.

UPDATE 1: a cross-party roundtable will take place on 4 September. A brief update on this will be provided during the next agenda item.

ACTION 2: consideration to be given as to whether a version of the National Measurement Framework (NMF) paper could be shared with the ASL Network.

UPDATE 2: the ASL Network received a copy of the NMF paper for consideration following the previous PB meeting.

The Chair invited members to comment on any of these actions. There were no further comments.

Cross-party Roundtable on ASL

SG provided the update. Members were made aware of the commitment the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills made before summer recess to host a cross-party roundtable with opposition parties to consider what improvements can be made for ASL. Councillor Buchanan from Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) will also be in attendance for this meeting.

SG confirmed that planning has commenced for the roundtable, and the meeting is going to be held on Thursday 4 September 2025.  

While the discussion points of the meeting is still to be finalised, the intention is that the Scottish Government and COSLA will work together to issue a paper in advance to set the expectations of the meeting with attendees. The purpose of this approach is to ensure that attendees allow to focus the discussion on solutions on managing the implementation challenges that exist.  

This item will be brought back to the next PB meeting after the roundtable has taken place. There were no comments from members.

ASN Data Summit

SG introduced this item. Following the Audit Scotland report, SG and COSLA agreed that there is a need for comprehensive and consistent data on ASL, to support future improvements. It is expected this will be a long-term piece of work and will include different steps towards completion.

As part of the 2025-26 PfG, the Scottish Government committed to holding a Data Summit with all LA’s invited. A provisional date of 12 November 2025 is being held for the summit. Work has commenced to locate a suitable venue to host this, and the attendees list currently includes representatives from the Local Authorities (LA), the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES), Education Scotland (ES), the Care Inspectorate (CI), SEEMiS and Audit Scotland. The remit of the summit has not been finalised at this time, however members were asked to review Paper 2 which included some considerations on what the summit could focus on.

Members were invited to provide input on what they believed would be beneficial to discuss during the Data Summit, to consider any additional attendees.

To prepare for the summit, SG analysts have explored the existing data on ASL to help identify current issues and gaps to help shape future improvements. The data came from the pupil census. They presented the information they had found to the PB.

The data collected on Additional Support Needs (ASN) is based on Legislative/policy frameworks, factors creating the need for support and description of the support provided.  

Legislative/policy frameworks used are Coordinated Support Plan (CSP), Individualised Education Programme (IEP), Child Plan, disabled or ‘other’. Pupils can have more than one plan at any time. It was noted to PB members that only CSP’s are statutory, while the other categories were non-statutory. The reasons categories can be vast and relate to physical, cognitive and environmental factors, in which again a pupil may have more than one. The description of the support provided includes the nature of the support, such as from social work, class teachers or other. The level of mainstream integration is also noted here, as well as any adaptations for ASN pupils, such as communication methods or their curriculum.

Each pupil can have multiple plan types, multiple reasons for support and multiple natures of support. It was noted to PB members that when SG analysts talk about the number of ASN pupils, each pupil is only counted as an ASN pupil once. However, when discussing plans or reasons, each pupil may be counted multiple times.

The data shows that there has been a long-term increase since 2007 in primary and secondary pupils with ASN, whereas special school pupils have remained constant. Most of the increase in ASN has come from pupils without a formal plan, marked as ‘other’, as well as a smaller increase in Child Plans. There are 25 reason categories for ASN, and it is noted by analysts that the categories with broader terms can overlap and will be used more frequently. It was highlighted that the use of ‘other’ as a reason was used when the current set of defined reasons did not meet their need.

There is a link between deprivation and ASN. Data on this has been cross referenced with the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) and noted a high number of children with ASN lived within the most deprived areas of Scotland. The data also showed the difference in ASN statistics at a LA level, focusing on the low to high rates of ASN between LAs, the different plan types used by the LAs within mainstream schools and the differences in reasons for support between LAs.

The SG analysts provided possible reasons as to why there is a difference in ASN data between LAs. These reasons included pupil characteristics, such as deprivation and English as an additional language. Implementation of policy and recording practices can be executed differently in each LA. Currently, there is no data collected on the level of resourcing required to meet the need of the pupil, or how effectively the need is being met. There is limited data on the complexity of each need and the type of resourcing required to meet the need of the pupil.

The Chair thanked the SG analysts for their presentation and invited PB members to comment.

Members noted that the presentation was helpful and was useful for reflection on what information was currently available with regards to ASN. It was agreed that the findings showed there is difficulty in recording data on ASN, and there are complications with gathering data from 32 different LAs, who have their own ways of practice and recording. Members questioned whether the use of ‘other’ being so large meant that the data lost some of its meaning in terms of reporting.

ES highlighted that there is ongoing work to support LAs to understand their own ASN data and to try and develop more consistency in their data recording. It was noted, however, that LAs have spent a long-time developing an approach what works for them, and that any changes to their approaches must be considered before implementing. Members noted the variation of language and interpretation of policy between LAs and highlighted it may be of interest to explore these differences to avoid assumptions of the data.  

Members discussed that the ‘reasons’ categories should be refreshed, as many of the categories are no longer fit for purpose. Members also noted that the differences between what LAs are naming their support plans, and that there is confusion for LAs about what plans are statutory, and which aren’t. In terms of different plans, members noted that some LAs will have their own local changes to choosing plan types or support required, and so it could be beneficial if SEEMiS could reflect policy development within LAs in line with the code of practice.

Members queried whether Early Years Centres (ELC) data would be considered in future ASN data, as there would be large interest in seeing the ELC/Primary/Secondary data breakdown. Analysts confirmed that while this data rests with another analytical unit, they would reach out to them to see if this could be combined to give a full overview of data from the 3-18 curriculum.

It was highlighted by a member that LAs will provide data into SEEMiS for GASS, however GASS do not have access to this system and therefore cannot enrich this data with accurate updates and reflection on the ASN of pupils within their schools. Alongside this, members raised concerns that only teachers and head teachers have access to SEEMiS and not Pupil Support Assistants (PSA). It is possible, that the data on teacher impact may be different if the PSAs could also input into SEEMiS, as this is generally considered a combination of support from both the teacher and the PSA. However, it was agreed that the data input should still reflect the work on PSAs without directly needing them to input this themselves.

Members noted that the legislation, practice and recording of data currently doesn’t “speak” to one another, which could be due to their different times of development.

Following the presentation and discussion, PB members were asked if they were content with the draft remit for the data summit found in Paper 2. It was agreed between members that this was a vast area and that this meeting should be seen as the start to a long-term process. Members felt current proposals were acceptable and highlighted that it is important to manage attendees’ expectations with regards to the summit, noting this is just the beginning of long-term process. Identifying the next steps are important, especially when considering the gaps and limited data at present, and attendees should leave the summit with actions to complete.  

Members felt it was important that the workforce not only felt included, but that they are consulted on the upcoming summit and involved from the start. Members were keen to avoid LAs feel like they are being “told off” for how they record data and instead show that if data can be recorded in a more comprehensive way that this will in turn support improvement plans for ASN. It was also noted that defining the purpose of the summit before the invites are sent out was important, to avoid having the wrong people in the room for the discussion. As the data is being used to inform national policy and funding decisions, it must be clear that this why it is firstly being gathered and secondly improved upon.

In terms of potential attendees, a member noted that Ally McAlpine, Chief Statistician for SG, could be considered to attend, due to his insights into data collection. It was also noted that ADES and HMIE may be able to collaborate on the planning for the summit.

In the closing part of the discussion, members agreed that: the remit for the summit could be refined so that the discussions are not too broad; that the ASN workforce should be included and consulted prior to the meeting; a presentation that members received today would be beneficial for attendees in addition to a presentation from an LA perspective on what is working well.

An update to members will be provided as plans progress for the data summit at the next meeting. PB members were reminded they can feedback thoughts and considerations of the summit to the Supporting Learners team after the meeting.

ACTION: Board Members to be provided a copy of the slides following the meeting.

National Measurement Framework (NMF)

SG analysts introduced this item. Currently, there is not an accessible area that holds data that is both usable and can help support discussions around future improvements for ASN. Acknowledging this gap, the development of the ASL National Measurement Framework (NMF) has been priorities and will be included within the updated National Improvement Framework Interactive Evidence Report (NIFIER). The updated NIF introduced seven new educational outcomes, replacing the current NIF which focused on the ten drivers of improvement.

The NIFIER dashboard is where the data for measuring the poverty-related attainment gap is brought together in one place. Due to the changes of the NIF, the NIFIER also has had to change to reflect the seven educational outcomes. The ASL NMF is to be embedded into the NIFIER, as there is a need for parity between making progress towards reducing the poverty-related and ASN-related attainment gaps. This is also an opportunity to improve the overall usage of the NIFIER dashboard to make this more user-friendly.

When creating the approaches for the ASL NMF measures, consideration was given to identifying which of the revised NIF measures could be disaggregated by ASN and what data was already available in the proxy data for other NIF measures. The final approach was to source additional ASN-specific measures on the current ASN data landscape, such as from the pupil census. There are 60 proposed measures for the ASL NMF, although these measures are still to be finalised. Members were made aware that currently this will be Scotland-level data only.

Members were then given a demonstration of the prototype dashboard, which included: an introduction to the ASL NMF, tabs for each NIF outcome including a dedicated ASL NMF tab, drop-downs to select the measure, geography and disaggregation of interest and streamlined visualisations with contextual information. ASL NMF measures will be presented both in a dedicated ASL NMF tab and mainstreamed throughout the NIFIER.

The NIFIER dashboard and the first iteration of the NMF is due to be published by December 2025, alongside the NIF in 2026. From there, it will be updated on a quarterly basis. Future development of the NMF will include: assessing the availability and quality of the collected data, any adjustments required in response to user needs, and considerations on further disaggregation on data. 

Members praised the work that has went into the development of the NMF, highlighting the importance in creating a place that holds all ASN data that is usable to support improvements for ASN. Members queried if the dashboard would be able to differentiate the reasons categories of ASN. SG analysts confirmed that this would not be directly available in the dashboard, however this information is available and would be linked within the dashboard if further information was required. This could be developed into the NIFIER dashboard in the future.

There was a consideration around data from ELC settings being included in the dashboard. SG analysts confirmed they did have some information on the early years, and that they could consider how this could be incorporated. Members also asked if an introductory word could be put within the dashboard to explain what is a considered a disability to help support user understanding and avoid ‘missing’ data, which will be investigated. 

As with the ASN data, members discussed how important it was to ensure LAs are brought along the journey of development with the NMF. It is critical to ensuring that they can find value in the dashboard.

Any Other Business

The Chair invited Enquire to provide an update on their communication strategy. Enquire reminded members of the communications paper that was shared in July 2025 and noted the feedback they did receive was positive, and encouraged members yet to respond to contact them. Currently, Enquire are working on a social media campaign with different messages to help support Enquire’s online presence. These were presented to the group as a draft, which was positively received by the group.

Members asked if the resources created could be put into an editable document that could then be disseminated out to schools and put onto school devices for engaging with children. Enquire will investigate this.

The Chair reminded PB members to continue to provide feedback and interact with Enquire to ensure that their views on the communication strategy are reflected in this work.

The Chair welcomed SG to provide an update. SG updated members of the upcoming ASL Action Plan progress report, due to be published within the next 6 months. Members were asked to prepare any contributions they will need to provide for the report. SG will get back in touch with members regarding deadlines and contributions.

Date of Next Meeting

The next PB meeting is planned for 30 September 2025.

The meeting will focus on professional learning and workforce. While this meeting was originally planned to be in person only, it was proposed that the 25 November 2025 meeting would be in person only instead. Members were asked to get in touch with their preferences.