Additional Support for Learning Project Board minutes: May 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
• Association of Scottish Principal Education Psychologists (ASPEP)
• SG Supporting Learners’ Team (SG)

Apologies

• Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES)
• Connect
• Grant Aided Special Schools
• National Autism Implementation Team
• ADES Early Years
• Social Work Scotland

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

The Chair welcomed members to the meeting of the Additional Support for Learning (ASL) Project Board (PB). Members were thanked for coming to the meeting. The Chair welcomed a new member from Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), who was attending their first meeting and will be replacing a current member from EIS. Members thanked this member for their valued contributions to the work of the PB. Apologies were noted.

Members were reminded that Audit Scotland would no longer observe the live ASL PB meetings but will review the meetings’ minutes instead.

The Supporting Learners’ Team is liaising with SOLACE to agree their new representative for the Project Board.

Actions from the previous meeting were reviewed and updated provided.

The Supporting Learners’ team liaised with SG analysts and identified the summer meeting of the PB as a good opportunity to discuss the National Measurement Framework (NMF) and wider data issues. Due to concerns around attendance at the meeting a poll will be issued to members to agree an updated time to meet in August. PB members were to share the draft communications strategy with their communications leads. Communications are part of the agenda to provide members the opportunity to update.

SG were to look for a venue to host an in-person session in May and extend the meeting time, however, the May meeting was not extended or held solely in-person. The intention is to hold the September meeting as an in-person session to discuss professional learning, workforce and training – SG will continue to seek out a venue.

Audit Scotland Public Audit Committee/ASL debate follow up

Update provided by SG. Programme for Government (PfG) was published on the 6 May, with content on ASL included. The PfG highlights the work to improve communication to be undertaken by Enquire and a new commitment to hold a data summit with all Local Authorities (LA) in Scotland invited, with the focus on improving the consistency, identification and reporting of children’s needs. This is being taken forward partly in response to recommendations from Audit Scotland. The summit will provide the opportunity to discuss what more can be done at both local and national level. The data summit will be the first step in considering how we can improve and build on existing work including work already going on in local authorities. The next PB session in the summer will focus on the National Measurement Framework and broader data.

COSLA and SG provided evidence on the Audit Scotland ASL briefing to the Public Audit Committee (PAC) on 7 May, followed by a debate in Parliament on the 14 May regarding ASL. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills agreed to a review of ASL and to have a round table discussion with opposition parties and COSLA to discuss the scope. It was noted that the review could be helpful if it focussed on providing solutions to improvement of ASL rather than highlighting known issues.  Initial areas identified by officials for further work include: improvements on integrating ASL in all aspects of national education policy, integration with health and social work, building a comprehensive overview of what works in Scotland that could be adapted to local needs, a focus on international comparators to sense check our system and a focus on  what more can be done around workforce training and development.

The overall scope of the review is therefore still to be defined & discussed with Ministers. It will also be informed by the roundtable. PB members were invited to provide their views on what should be included in this review and to consider whom would be a credible source to lead the review. Members commented that the round table should be used as an opportunity to remove the political focus and instead consider what is best for children receiving ASL. There was also consideration over the public perception of another review & in particular the parents/carers who may feel frustration over having another review given we have already had a series of reviews and reports. This work should put an emphasis onto solutions and should be viewed as the next stage of the ASL Action Plan as opposed to a whole new review. It was noted that Education Scotland (ES) work alongside the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (EASNIE) and would be able to provide updates on international comparators.

National measurement framework update

Update provided by SG. The NMF will be embedded within the National Improvement Framework Interactive Evidence Report (NIFIER), and following the update from the last PB meeting, phase one is now in progress. SG analysts are currently undertaking a review of the NIFIER measures as part of their wider work to refresh the data that is collected and presented through this platform. The first stage is establishing a draft list of revised measures and considering what measures can be disaggregated by ASN. As work progresses with phase 1 there will be opportunities to identify potential gaps in the ASN data to consider how this could be incorporated into phases 2 and 3. The NMF in its first iteration will be based on existing data and will become the baseline for the framework. SG ASL team are continuing to work closely with SG analysists to ensure that as much ASL data can be included in the framework.

SG analysts aim to have a first draft by Summer 2025. The Project Board will have their summer meeting focusing on data, so will be able to consider as a group and discuss with the analysts. Members queried the timeline for the NMF and Audit Scotland recommendations. It is noted that while there is a firm timeline for the first iteration of the NMF to be published by December 2025, due to sizable amount of work of the Audit Scotland recommendations and subsequent data summit, there are no confirmed details yet of what phases 2 and 3 will complete. Members will be updated once a timeline has been agreed.  

Code of Practice update

Update provided by SG. The Code of Practice document (CoP) is being updated to provide more clarity and understanding on some of its content. Some of these areas in the document being updated relate to diagnosis, placing requests process, transitions for children and how the Standards in Schools Act impacts on the 2004 ASL Act. It was noted that some of the policies interlinked with the document have also been updated, which is currently not reflected in the document.

Work for this update continues to involve different policy groups to ensure that the CoP will align with other ongoing work and ensures the correct teams are advising on the refresh. It was noted that the document is considered to some as quite dense and not user friendly for all stakeholder groups. Work is ongoing to address is accessibility point. The structure of information is being reviewed to see if the language within the document can be changed to make it more accessible, however the legal accuracy must be maintained. The CoP document has been shortened slightly to ensure information is not being unnecessarily duplicated.

Members queried the current timeframes of the CoP refresh. It was noted there is a consultation planned for Autumn 2025. A draft is to be shared with the CoP working group providing stakeholders with a chance to provide feedback on the refreshed document. Once the consultation is ready, PB members will be asked to disseminate through their networks.

Communications  

Update provided by Enquire. Enquire have been working on a communication strategy regarding the different stakeholder groups for ASL and have developed five overarching themes and key messages in relation to this. It was noted that Enquire are ensuring that any messages that go out are understood by the variety of different groups that work with them.

The draft of the first theme to be communicated will be provided to the PB around mid to late June. PB members were provided the paper for review prior to this meeting and have been asked to provide feedback on its contents. There is an ask for PB members to complete a form regarding different communication channels that each member has access to, as this will be key in delivering the communication strategy. The deadline for this to be completed is 6 June.  

Members welcomed the document and noted thanks for embedding diversity of the groups into the paper and highlighting individuals’ rights. It was noted that one of the goals of the paper was to avoid disagreements/parents having to have recourse to the ASL Tribunal, however there was concern that this had the potential to be mis-interpreted & that stakeholders may feel “silenced” by this message. It was therefore  recommended that the wording of this should be revised. Members asked for Early Learning Centres (ELC) to be added alongside schools as a key group for inclusivity. The ASL Network was asked to be included as an active partner alongside the ASL PB. It was noted that groups who do not work exclusively within ASL but do have some interactions with this should also be considered. Members queried if the document should be shared with the ELC ASN Short Life working group for further feedback. It was agreed the document could be shared at a later stage.

ASL Network update

Update provided by the chair of the network. The ASL Network met on 20 May and were updated on the progress of the ASL Action Plan, NMF, CoP and the communication strategy.  ES noted that the network members were disappointed over the lack of opportunities the network had to engage with actions coming from the PB. It is recommended that the PB consider maintaining the ASL Network following future completion of the ASL action plan, due to the vast knowledge and keen interest of the network members to progress this work. Continuation of the network could develop understanding of inclusion and ASL and provide more support for implementation.

Members asked what more the board can do to support the ASL Network engagement. While the ASL Network Chair will go back to the network directly for comment on how this can be done, it was noted that the network would like to receive more communication from the ASL PB. There was a request for the network to receive the documentation regarding the NMF, however this had not been possible to provide. It was agreed that consideration could be given to sharing a version of the paper with the network.

It was noted that concerns were raised over the announcement of a new ASL review in Parliament, especially when the Scottish Government and partners were still responding to the Morgan review recommendations.  Members noted the views of the organisations that make up the network, and the perspective of parents and carers could be important for politicians to hear.  For example – concerns that we are currently responding to a review, in addition board members raised that parents & carers would not necessarily find a review particularly helpful at this time.  The Supporting Learners Team will consider the most appropriate time and method to facilitate gathering feedback.   Following this discussion, the Chair noted that it would be beneficial for some members of the PB to meet with the network at the next meeting to hear and discuss their priorities, next steps and discuss how they could support this work.

It was confirmed that the Network would receive the finalised minutes of this meeting to meet communication needs.

Action:

• ASL PB members will engage with the ASL Network following the cross-party roundtable, which will inform the scope of the ASL review
• consideration to be given as to whether a version of the NMF paper could be shared with the ASL Network

Any other business

The PB were provided a link to the recent Scottish Assembly for Parents and Carers survey report. The headlines within this report were found to be helpful and reinforced the PB’s discussions. The board note that this is a useful report, which provides a familiar but different perspective which is not always as frequently reflected upon. The chair noted members could revisit this during the next PB meeting.

Date of the next meeting

Next meeting to be rearranged to 20 August 2025 with a focus on the NMF. 

Scottish Government

May 2025