Education (Scotland) Bill correspondence and cost of implementation: FOI release

Information requested

The total cost to the Scottish Government associated with the development, consultation, drafting, and implementation of the Education (Scotland) Bill. Including:

• Internal staffing costs (policy teams, legal, communications, programme teams).
• External consultancy or legal advice related to the Bill.
• Public engagement, stakeholder consultation, or promotional campaign costs.
• Any costs incurred in preparation for establishing Qualifications Scotland or Curriculum Scotland.
• Implementation or transition costs for the new national bodies

You requested that this information be broken down by financial year from 2021-22 to 2025-26 (to date).

Response

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested in the format that you asked for.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested relating to internal staff costs associated with the Education (Scotland) Bill. The development, consultation, drafting, and implementation of the Education (Scotland) Bill involved a number civil servants who work across a wide range of areas simultaneously and intermittently and we are unable to apportion costs to this level of detail.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

The remaining costs you requested are outlined in the table below.

	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26*
External consultancy and legal advice	£0	£0	£0	£0	£0
Public engagement, stakeholder consultation and promotional campaign	£0	£0	£40,939	£7,126	£0
Costs incurred in preparation for establishing Qualifications Scotland or Curriculum Scotland	£0	£0	£0	£51,024	£28,885
Implementation or transition costs for the new national bodies	£0	£850,000	£993,000	£1,507,000	£0

* up to 31 July 2025

Please note that Curriculum Scotland will not be established as part of the Education (Scotland) Bill therefore there are no costs associated. Costs incurred in the preparation for the establishment of Qualifications Scotland and the office of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education in Scotland, both of which are contained within the Bill, are included in the table above.

Please also note that the 'Implementation or transition costs for the new national bodies' is funding that was transferred to Education Scotland and Scottish Qualifications Authority at Autumn and/or Spring Budget Revision as part of the Education Reform programme.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.