Education Reform Programme Board minutes - January 2025

Attendees and apologies

Attendees:

• Clare Hicks
• Lisa Bird
• Adam Reid
• Fiona Robertson
• Janie McManus
• Lesley Whelan
• Laura Caven
• Laurence Findlay
• Sarah Hart
• Sean Stronach
• Graham Thomson
• Molly Illingworth

Apologies:

• Rory Mair
• Shirley Laing
• Gillian Hamilton
• Graeme Logan
• Chris Dunne
• Kieran Watson

Guests:

• Richard Dryburgh

PMO:

• Pauline Hendry
• Rory Smith

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

The Chair welcomed members to the meeting and noted apologies received.

Previous action points

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed without comment.

Action - Sean Stronach to follow up with Laura Caven on the role of inspection in the context of the Verity House Agreement within the Education System Interfaces report - This will be progressed through System Improvement project actions following Programme Board discussions.

Action - Sean Stronach to engage with stakeholders, including His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools (HMIE), regarding the Education System Interfaces report and recommendations, particularly on how to progress collaborative system improvement through reform -This will be picked up as progress continues on System Improvement project actions, following Programme Board discussions. A key action taken forward will be local authority engagement, through ADES and COSLA.

General programme updates

Education (Scotland) Bill

Stage 1 of the Education (Scotland) Bill is now complete, with Parliament agreeing to general principles following a debate on 18 December. Views noted during the debate closely mirrored areas of interest during earlier committee sessions. 

For Qualifications Scotland these included areas relating to the culture of the new and reformed bodies, the location of accrediting function, and making the new body more representative to include teachers, young people and trade unions.

While the separation of inspection functions from Education Scotland was broadly supported, there was a focus on the independence of His Majesty’s Inspectorate for Education (HMIE), and accountabilities to both Parliament and Scottish Ministers, as well as how stakeholders would be engaged through the advisory council. A number of other issues were raised, including the role of HMIE in safeguarding and child protection.

The Cabinet Secretary expressed a willingness to gather views from opposition parties and to bring forward amendments in Stage 2, which, subject to Parliamentary decision, may commence during February 2025. Estimated timing for Stage 3 is around April 2025, with Royal Assent in May 2025.

Board members highlighted the importance of new and reformed bodies remaining engaged with the Bill process and having continued opportunities for engagement during Stage 2.

The National Improvement Framework

The National Improvement Framework and long-term strategy were published on 10 December alongside a range of data, including statistics on attainment levels and teacher numbers. Board members were thanked for their involvement in this process.

On the same day, the Cabinet Secretary made a statement to Parliament responding to the statistics and providing detail on short and long-term objectives and outcomes set out in the Framework. 

The Cabinet Secretary decided to separate publication of the Framework in December from the publication of the associated Improvement Plan which will be published next week (w/c 27 January) detailing how each of the outcomes will be achieved. It is likely that the contents will feature as a topic of discussion during Stage 2 as the Bill progresses through Parliament.

Education Reform Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy specification

A specification for the Education Reform Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy has been produced in conjunction with analysts in Education and Analytical Services (EAS), key policy, programme management and delivery leads, as well as colleagues from ES and SQA.

An Invitation to Tender (ITT) has been produced for the procurement of analytical resource to produce a Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy for the Education Reform Programme benefits and outcomes, as well as a specific project level strategy for curriculum and qualifications reform project work.

The ITT went live on Tuesday 14 January 2025. Education Reform input will be required in evaluating tenders, likely to take place in February/March. A further update will be provided once a suitable contractor has been confirmed.

Post School announcement

Members were provided with an update on the Post School Announcement which took place today (22 January).

Mr Dey provided a statement to Parliament in December 2023 which launched post-school reform following a number of external reviews. Following a public consultation (launched last summer) and the development of an outline business case appraising the shortlisted options for simplifying the funding body landscape, a preferred option has now been chosen.

Ministers have chosen to consolidate all funding for provision in one public body – Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and all funding for student support in another public body - Student Award Agency Scotland (SAAS). This will impact national programmes, including apprenticeships, which will move from Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to the SFC. It will also see further education student support funding move from SFC to SAAS.

Timescales suggest operational structures going live in mid-late 2026.

Action: Clare Hicks to hold further discussions with Fiona Robertson, Janie McManus, and Gillian Hamilton on the consequences of the decision to consolidate all Post School funding provision into a single public body for Education Reform and system reform as a whole.

Members highlighted the important opportunity to align with current Education Reform work, connecting across the Education and Qualifications system to deliver a world class skills system. Emphasis was placed on creating a joined-up learner journey through the education system.

A further point was raised around the impact on the Education (Scotland) Bill prior to Stage 2. The impact on HMIE was raised, as was the point that many apprenticeships begin in the school environment.

Delivery assessment

Members were presented with a review of all projects, covering plans for day one transition for the new and refocussed education bodies as well as post day one transformation.

Overall assessment of the Programme is Amber/Red, highlighting challenges around limited finance, staff resource, constrained timescales, and expectations.

Despite resourcing and financial constraints there remains confidence that the Programme is deliverable, and members were asked for input on how to unblock and accelerate progress.

Challenges and opportunities were highlighted around transition work, including delivering on wider Public Service Reform (PSR) objectives; but needing to balance the impact of reform alongside day-to-day operations.

Members were informed of work to develop a Programme Communications and Engagement Strategy to more effectively tell the story of reform, and of what is being achieved.

Action: PMO to ensure Programme Communications and Engagement Strategy to be discussed at a future Programme board.

Challenges highlighted to Programme Board members included the short time frame to deliver in advance of Day 1s for the new and refocussed education bodies in Autumn 2025.

Staff resourcing remains a challenge, both in terms of workforce capacity levels and ensuring the right capabilities are available to deliver across reform and current operations in the new and refocussed education bodies.

Finance continues to be a challenge, with current forecast cost ranges greater than funding indicatively allocated in the draft Budget. Strong evidence is required to evidence value for money behind all spend, which also impacts resource and capacity to deliver.

Members discussed the importance of the Communications and Engagement Strategy, particularly around budget considerations and expectations.

Members were content that all of the new and refocussed bodies, and the Scottish Government, were moving in unison towards reform and transition ahead of day one. The need to ensure capacity to prioritise both transition and day to day running via corporate services across new and refocussed bodies was highlighted. A focus on prioritisation and staff engagement while recognising time constraints was recommended.

Members discussed potential opportunities to review areas for shared services across Scottish Government, and the importance of continuing to include Public Service Reform colleagues and Corporate Transformation colleagues in education reform.

A point was raised around the need for a focus on corporate and digital support, highlighting work around the digital strategy as a demonstration of reform decisions at a system level.

Members discussed mitigations to potential blockers which might affect timeframes, particularly around the accreditation function, and amendments to the Bill which may create unforeseen resource intensive periods impacting on capacity to deliver transition requirements.

Action: PMO to ensure potential risks, relating to an increase in workload when progressing amendments to the Education (Scotland) Bill as this progresses to Stage 2, are reflected appropriately in the existing programme resource risk.

Programme risk

Members were provided with an update on programme risks, highlighting the ad-hoc Risk and Dependency Group held on 10 December 2024 with cross-government representation from Education Scotland and HMIE, Qualifications Scotland and programme colleagues. The group reframed key risk narratives, adjusted target resolutions, reviewed planned actions ensuring these were both relevant and reflected appropriate ownership between new and refocussed education bodies.

Additional information on key planned actions for programme finance, timescale and resource risks were provided, noting that additional finance controls continue to add pressure and may impact day one delivery timescales.

Members fully endorsed the risks articulated and supported the mitigations in place.

Members agreed that the Amber/Red rating was a reasonable and just assessment. Members also felt that the full scale of work being undertaken was highlighted and that the right connections and decisions were being made as the year of delivery begins.

Any other business

The Chair thanked the Board for their contributions and closed the meeting.

The next meeting will take place on 27 March 2025.