Education Reform Programme Board minutes - November 2024

Attendees and apologies

Attendees:

• Clare Hicks
• Lisa Bird
• Adam Reid
• Graeme Logan
• Rory Mair
• Fiona Robertson
• Gillian Hamilton
• Janie McManus
• Laura Caven
• Laurence Findlay
• Chris Dunne
• Sarah Hart
• Kieran Watson
• Sean Stronach
• Graham Thomson
• Fiona Comrie
• Katy Campbell
• Molly Illingworth

Apologies:

• Sheena Devlin - Laurence Findlay has replaced Sheena as ADES President and so will join the Programme Board
• Shirley Laing - Adam Reid will represent Shirley

PMO:

• Pauline Hendry
• Rory Smith

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

The Chair welcomed members and noted apologies received.

Previous action points

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed without comment.

All actions from the previous Board meeting have been closed.

General programme updates

Education (Scotland) Bill

The Education (Scotland) Bill is making good progress. The Committee concluded evidence sessions, with the Cabinet Secretary’s appearance on 9 October.

The Stage 1 report is expected and will set out whether the Committee supports the Bill’s general principles and any recommendations. The Scottish Government’s response will be prepared in advance of the parliamentary debate, which is expected to take place in the week beginning 16 December.

Stage 2 is expected to begin early 2025. This will see consideration of any proposed amendments to the Bill.

General updates

Work continues across all new and refocussed education organisations, including the grant process for the Centre for Teaching Excellence, with the chosen host expected to be announced December 2024.

The Cabinet Secretary met with all staff Unions to update on reform and hear their views. The Cabinet Secretary has committed to scheduling further discussions with this group in the coming year, with the next meeting to be scheduled for early 2025.

Gateway Review

A Gate 0 Gateway Review for the Education Reform Programme took place in August 2024. This is the second Gateway Review of the programme, with the first taking place in September 2022. The review concluded with an Amber rating which indicates that successful delivery appears feasible, but significant issues already exist requiring management attention. These appear resolvable at this stage and, if addressed promptly, should not present a cost/schedule overrun.

The report made five recommendations designed to support successful delivery. An action plan to respond to the recommendations has been assured through the established programme governance model.

It was noted that the recommendation relating to the development of business cases is critical to inform wider Scottish Government budget discussions.

Digital Strategy update

A presentation was delivered on the purpose of the Education Reform Programme Digital Strategy, its core components, and development process. Details were provided of how it enables various aspects of the reform programme and its focus on areas that require cross- organisational collaboration and shared digital services. The presentation included insight into existing and potential collaborative efforts within the Education Reform Programme, Scottish Government and wider local authority landscape, transition planning, and the future digital roadmap.

Next steps include:

• exploring further areas that the digital strategy may align to including Curriculum and Qualifications, ELC/Care Inspectorate, My World of Work and a further review of the strategy from a PSR perspective
• further reviews of the digital strategy by digital experts from different areas of SG.
• baselining the digital strategy and all associated documentation
• using the digital strategy to inform and support prioritised Day 1 Transition Planning.
• establishing transition and post Day 1 digital governance models within and across new and existing organisations
• aligning key areas of the digital strategy to the established Education Reform Programme Benefits Model and realisation plan
• investigating and planning for post Day 1 digital capability development and shared organisational approaches

The Chair invited comments, particularly from representatives of local government.

The importance of liaising with the Digital Unit in the Directorate for Learning was noted. This is in order to assure the digital strategy aligns with broader digital work and areas of focus across both Scottish Government and local government. A risk was also noted regarding the sharing of evidence and information between Education Scotland and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools.

The Board highlighted resourcing challenges and how these might affect the delivery of the strategy. The age of some of the legacy systems that may need to be replaced was raised, alongside addressing the degradation of services.

The Board reflected on the importance of changing behaviour to allow the full benefits of the digital strategy to be realised. The limitations of “a single source of truth” was discussed recognising the difference between data and information.

Action: Chris Dunne and the Operational Requirements project team to consider a consistent approach to relevant data and evidence which does not limit the complexity and variety of information. The strategy should also consider how to incorporate the human behavioural element of implementing the digital strategy.

The Board endorsed the strategy, while recognising challenges around resourcing and implementation.

Programme finance

The Board were updated on Programme finance with a focus on expenditure for 2024/25 and the budget forecast for 2025/26. It was noted that the figures do not encompass the whole of the funding allocated to ES and SQA but are specific to programme spend. Operational budgets and existing pressures were acknowledged.

Further work will be required to ensure that the new and reformed bodies are sustainable and that spend is targeted in areas of priority for Ministers. Overall allocations will be agreed in the Scottish Budget, with the draft Budget Bill to be set published on 4 December.

An exercise has begun to scope the work required for longer term sustainable funding models for ES, HMIE, QS and the Centre for Teaching Excellence. Further collaborative work on this will support an understanding of existing pressures and highlight opportunities to reduce these through reform activity.

The Chair noted opportunities to make a strong case to release funding where it is known programme objectives will benefit.

Members indicated that it would be useful to understand the budget for reform for next year. The Chair confirmed that the Board would be updated once the Scottish Budget has been announced.

Action: Update on the Budget to be included in the next Programme Board meeting.

System improvement through reform

Noting that the Board had previously had an overview of developing work, the final draft report from work on education system interfaces (ESI) within the programme had been provided to Board members in advance as background from this discussion.

Sean Stronach presented on findings and recommendations from work within the programme, including the ESI project, focusing particularly on which further actions and outputs might be taken forward to drive system improvement in the context of reform.

Reflections were raised on the importance of focussing on how the new and reformed bodies will operate with each other and with the wider system to drive improvement, particularly in light of the refresh of the National Improvement Framework. This was an opportunity to test members’ views on opportunities within reform for system improvement and how they can be realised.

The presentation set out findings from this range of work and an overview of potential actions to improve clarity in the system and collaborative leadership within and between organisations.

Programme Board members reflected on the complexity of the system, the strength of established relationships and the importance of maintaining them. Professional learning was identified as an area where evidence suggests practitioners have a particular difficulty in navigating the system.

Members discussed the use of Memorandums of Understanding (MOU), highlighting their limitations and the importance of tailoring the approach to each organisation. It was suggested that MOUs should be treated with caution where strong relationships already existed to avoid creating transactional relationships between bodies.

There was discussion about local authorities and how the recommendations would impact their work and relationships to the national bodies.

The Board made reference to links with the Verity House Agreement in terms of inspection within the report and committed to sending comments around this following the meeting.

Action: Sean Stronach to follow up with Laura Caven.

A view was expressed that the role of HMIE be more broadly articulated in the ESI report and further comments were offered post meeting.

A point was raised on the importance of collaboration, highlighting how it should be essential not optional, and how this work should link back to the objectives of the Scottish Government as a whole.

The Board concluded that the paper should be used as the basis for further engagement with key stakeholders on how to progress collaborative system improvement through reform.  

Action: Sean Stronach to engage with stakeholders, including HMIE representatives, on actions building on the ESI report and recommendations.

Project Steering and Assurance Group update

The Programme Director set out how good progress is being made despite challenges around timing. The process of selecting a host for the Centre of Teaching Excellence is progressing to agreed timelines, the Education (Scotland) Bill is undergoing parliamentary scrutiny, and transition work required for day one for HMIE, ES and QS continues.

Work on the Curriculum Improvement Cycle and Qualification Reform has been incorporated into the Programme.  

Projects have been streamlined following feedback received in the gateway review and work around the detail of transition plans has provided greater assurance of resourcing implications. Work is also underway to support SQA with transition.

It was noted that there are a large number of outputs due to be completed by the end of the year. Timings and dependencies were discussed in terms of possible programme impact. The Board discussed the timelines, particularly around day one expectations, and indicated a desire for further assurance that the programme can deliver on those timescales.

Action: Progress in relation to delivery for day one should be reviewed early in 2025. PMO to organise Programme Board meeting in early January.

Programme risk

An overview of Finance risks highlighting those that remain red was presented to Board members.

An additional Programme Risk and Dependency management group meeting has been scheduled for 10 December which will focus on the two programme finance risks on programme delivery budget and sustainability of national organisations. This meeting, scheduled to take place post-Scottish Government budget announcement, will also consider whether further mitigation or replanning of risks is required.

It was noted that additional finance controls were adding pressure and may impact day 1 delivery timescales.

Action: The finance risks should be revisited, with a particular focus on the mitigating actions in advance of the next Programme Board.

Any other business

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

Dates for Programme Boards in 2025 will be scheduled in line with key project outputs, with the next meeting in early January.