Education and Childcare Assurance Board minutes: February 2026

Attendees and apologies

Members

• Councillor Tony Buchanan, COSLA Children and Young People spokesperson (Chair)
• Jenny Gilruth, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Co-chair)
• Laura Caven, Chief Officer, Children and Young People, COSLA
• Alison Taylor, Interim Director of Learning, Scottish Government
• Clare Hicks, Director for Education Reform, Scottish Government
• Lisa Bird, Interim Chief Executive, Education Scotland
• Graeme Logan, Interim Chief Inspector of Education, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE)
• Andrew Watson, Director for Children and Families, Scottish Government
• Steven Quinn, East Renfrewshire Council Chief Executive, Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE)

In attendance

• Lesley Brown, Chair Direcctor Forum, Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES)
• Kit Wyeth, Interim Deputy Director, Improvement, Attainment and Wellbeing, Scottish Government
• Janie McManus, Professional Advisor, Scottish Government
• Graham Thomson, Unit Head, Strategic Engagement Unit, Scottish Government
• John Wilson, Independent Professional Advisor (IPA) (for item 4 only)

Secretariat

• Judith Tracey, Team Leader, National Improvement Framework Unit, Scottish Government
• Michael Stawpert, Policy Manager, National Improvement Framework Unit, Scottish Government
• Michelle Kim, Policy Officer, National Improvement Framework Unit, Scottish Government
• Brianna Fletcher, Policy Manager, Children and Young People, COSLA

Apologies

• Laurence Findlay, President, ADES
• Sheena Devlin, General Secretary, ADES
• Derek Brown, Highland Council Chief Executive, SOLACE

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions – Councillor Tony Buchanan

The Chair welcomed members to the fourth meeting of the Education and Childcare Assurance Board (ECAB). The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills was delayed in joining the meeting due to parliamentary business.

Papers 1 and 2 – actions and minutes from the previous meeting

The board had no comments on the actions or minutes from the last meeting.

Verbal update -  update on additional support for learning review

Janie McManus provided the board with an update on the evidence led review of Additional Support for Learning (ASL). It draws on the wide range of existing evidence rather than undertaking a new consultation and is scheduled for publication before the end of March 2026.  Members were invited to discuss areas where improved practice and system design could support better outcomes for children and young people with additional support needs (ASN).

The following points were made in discussion:

• there is a need for clear engagement with local government and Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). However, due to the timescales it is intended that there will be light touch engagement with stakeholders and the review will be largely informed by existing evidence. Engagement has taken place with the ASL Project Board and Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) representatives, and a meeting scheduled with COSLA

• an ASL event will take place on 12 March 2026 to highlight the outcomes of the review

• members expressed concerns around the limited scope for gathering evidence and the limited opportunity available for this to be triangulated. There was also discussion about  increasing levels of needs and complexity across the system

• the cost, time, resourcing and difficulty of tribunals were raised as a feature of the current ASL system

• it was confirmed that the review aims to present a clear picture of the current system, by drawing on existing evidence and previous reports with the potential next steps on how to improve it. It was established that this review would not include the scope to gather any new evidence from stakeholders across the system

Actions/decisions

• Janie McManus to update the board with the publication plans of the ASL review. 

Verbal update -  update from the Independent Professional Advisor (IPA)

John Wilson joined the meeting, provided an update on his report, and highlighted his engagement with local government, ADES Executive Team, trade unions and the advisory board of headteachers. He highlighted that he intends to submit his report to Ministers by the end of March 2026.

The following points were made in discussion:

• concerns were raised about the review’s focus on primary and secondary schools, with members noting the absence of specific consideration being given to early learning and childcare and ASN

• it was stressed that education extends beyond schools, and needs to be considered in a broad, holistic way, including an understanding of local democracy and wider funding required as that is what local authorities need to do. Board members questioned whether the approach of the IPA was fully cognisant of the whole system

• Mr Wilson highlighted that headteachers had spoken about the value provided by collaborative arrangements and that the current Quads had the potential to add value as a way of driving improvement

• members welcomed the engagement undertaken to date and acknowledged the value of reflections on improvement, funding and governance from a school leader’s perspective, while recognising the wider system context, including links to ASL, would also need to be taken into account

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills joined the meeting.

• it was noted that education funding is complex and there are challenges in tracing local government statutory finance functions

• members noted that a substantial proportion of expenditure relates to teaching staff, and emphasised the importance of considering wider factors when examining funding impacts

• it was noted by some members that there is need for greater assurance on ASN spending as there are difficulties when trying to understand how funding goes into classroom support

Actions/decisions

• Lesley Brown to engage with John Wilson and Graham Thomson around the input and output measures of education improvement

• John Wilson and Janie McManus to discuss overlapping themes across their remits. Any relevant discussions will be fed back to the ECAB as appropriate

John Wilson left the meeting.

Papers 4 and 5 - governance groups and timeline of publications

Judith Tracey provided the board with an update on the number of governance groups and boards, and timeline of publications. Though there are a considerable number of groups listed, many are short life working groups that are due to disband soon. Most publications listed are statistics that will not require a response from schools or local authorities. Of the 30 new publications, 14 are for schools’ information only. Officials will keep the timeline updated, maintaining a strategic view to align publications to school timetables as far as possible. 

It was noted that there appears to be a large number of groups and a question was posed as to the value these all add to the system.

Paper 3 - review of ECAB

Judith Tracey led the discussion on the review of the ECAB. The review had been due after 6 months, however, the discussion was postponed to February 2026 to seek members’ views. After initial discussion at the ECAB Officers’ Group in January, a new workplan for 2026 was drafted, with a particular focus on strategic issues where the ECAB can add value. It was also suggested that meeting papers should endeavour to follow a particular format, outlining its purpose. 

The following points were made in discussion:

• members welcomed the tighter agenda and clearer strategic focus

• it was noted that stronger collaboration between local and Scottish government in developing agendas and bringing issues to ECAB is required

• members agreed that the ECAB could also be used as a forum to highlight strengths and successes within the education system

• there was a broad agreement that the roles of the ECAB and the Officers’ Group should be clarified

Actions/decisions

• ECAB Secretariat to consider how to highlight the decisions required from the board in the meeting paper template

Verbal update - scheduling of school terms

Alison Taylor provided the board with an update on the variation in school term dates across local authorities. Decisions are made locally and the timing of school terms can have a variety of effects on learners and their families.

The following points were made in discussion:

• it was asked if this subject was strategic enough to require discussion at ECAB

• members noted that variations in school holidays could be part of a wider strategic discussion, incorporating topics such as reduced class contact time and the national supply list, to ensure changes prioritise educational benefit and the impact of children and young people’s wellbeing and family finances

• there was a discussion about the timing of the exam diet, particularly for pupils returning from holidays to immediate exams, and the need to consider equity and flexibility, and the wider knock on consequences of altering the school calendar for parents and neighbouring local authorities. It was recognised that the exam diet sits within the qualifications authority who have in recent years brought forward the exam diet rather than local authorities pushing holidays back

Actions/decisions

• COSLA and Scottish Government officials to consider whether this should be progressed as part of a wider strategic item and, if required, bring it back to the Board for future discussion

Any other business

No further business was raised.