Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill - Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA)

Section 2: Engagement and information gathering

Engagement approach

75. The primary engagement approach has been through the public consultation which took place over the summer of 2024 (see below). The consultation was conducted on-line through Citizen Space. To help with understanding and accessibility, the Scottish Government organised three on-line information sessions and accepted responses by post or e-mail. Furthermore, the consultation was highlighted and promoted by policy teams to relevant stakeholders, including equality groups.

76. The consultation proposals built on the extensive stakeholder engagement which informed both the development of the Purpose and Principles and the Withers Review. These, in turn, build on a wealth of previous research, evidence and reviews; for more information, see page 7 and Annex B of the consultation paper.

77. As part of developing the OBC, there has been extensive engagement with the SFC, SDS and SAAS, including through Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) workshops held in autumn 2024, to which other stakeholders, including representatives from universities, colleges and other training providers, were also invited.

78. As part of developing the provision in the Bill, there have been follow-up discussions with the SFC, SDS and the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Short-Life Working Group on apprenticeship definition.

79. The reform programme has put in train a series of employer engagement sessions with the Minister and sector representatives which will continue through implementation.

80. There will be further consultation on the development of subordinate legislation and on the detail of implementation, subject to the will of the Scottish Parliament and the decisions of a future Scottish Administration. There are decisions to be made on the future direction of apprenticeship policy and delivery and the supporting groups and structures (including the new apprenticeship committee).

81. The Bill, implementation and other projects in the reform programme will be subject to review and evaluation to ensure that, collectively, they are delivering the vision and outcomes as set out in the Purpose and Principles. Outcomes for learners and employers are a central focus and any review or evaluation activity will include their views and experiences.

Internal SG engagement and engagement with wider Public Sector

Internal SG engagement

82. The policies in the Bill are the responsibility of the Lifelong Learning and Skills Directorate and relevant policy teams have been fully engaged in the process. The development of the Bill has been overseen by the Post School Education and Skills Reform Programme Board, which has representation from the following Directorates within the Scottish Government: Education Reform; Tackling Child Poverty and Social Justice; Jobs and Wellbeing Economy; and Public Service Reform. This has helped to ensure that the Bill and wider reform programme are aligned with school-age education reform and the Scottish Government’s priorities. DG Education and Justice is overseeing education reform across all ages from early learning to post-school and ensuring that reform is co-ordinated and coherent.

83. Officials have not engaged with the Regulatory Review Group at this stage. This is because the significant impacts for businesses will follow from future changes to the apprenticeship programme and other subordinate legislation in the Bill. The Regulatory Review Group will be engaged as appropriate as part of future policy development.

84. The wider reform programme is aligned with the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) ambitions for a skilled workforce and strongly connected into DG Economy. The work aligns with the recommendations of the First Minister’s Investor Panel to make Scotland a globally competitive investment destination.

UK Government and devolved administrations

85. Provision in the Bill relates to the devolved matters of education and training and has no direct impact on the UK Government or devolved administrations. The Bill has not been discussed with the UK Government or devolved administrations. However, the Scottish Government intends to offer discussions with the UK Government and devolved administrations in parallel with the Scottish Parliament’s consideration of the Bill.

86. There are, significant developments in England and Wales with regard to apprenticeship legislation and the development of the Bill has been informed by this.

87. The King’s Speech in July 2024 included the Skills England Bill⁹. The UK Government has set out their intention that the Bill will transfer functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), to Skills England, a newly established body which is currently operating in shadow form within the Department for Education and is being developed in phases over the next year. The Bill, now named the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill¹⁰, was introduced in the UK Parliament on 9 October 2024.

88. The Welsh Government has recently put in place a new framework for apprenticeships under the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022¹¹ overseen by the Medr (the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research).

Wider Public Sector

89. Local authorities, and the wider public sector, are affected in the same way as private sector businesses and employers, i.e. through their employment of apprentices. There is no differentiation for the public sector. Scottish Government officials have liaised with COSLA over the consultation proposals.

90. There are no directly relevant regulatory bodies in Scotland.

91. The wider public sector, as well as Scotland’s enterprise agencies, the Scottish National Investment Bank and Scottish Futures Trust, will have an interest in the development and evolution of apprenticeship policies and programmes enabled by the Bill. They will be engaged, as appropriate, in parallel with private sector engagement.

International

92. No engagement has taken place with government organisations in other countries.

Business and third sector engagement

93. Employers and businesses are an important group of stakeholders, as the tertiary education system needs to provide them with people with right skills. The Scottish Government wants to grow and strengthen the connections between employers and institutions. Employers and trade associations have a strong interest in any new model for delivering apprenticeships through one body. The manufacturing sector is reliant on apprenticeships. Engaging with employers and businesses is an important part of the wider reform programme. There was widespread engagement with business and employers as part of developing the Purpose and Principles and the Withers Review, upon which the consultation proposals and Bill provision is built.

94. Employers and businesses have been engaged in the development of the provisions in the Bill and the wider reform programme through public consultation (see below), discussions with the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Short-Life Working Group on apprenticeship definition and employer engagement sessions with the Minister and sector representatives. Furthermore, SDS has an extensive network of employers and businesses and acts as a conduit of information to and from the Scottish Government on the development of the reform programme. Some of these employers and businesses operate UK-wide or internationally.

95. Colleges are part of the public sector (and are generally also registered as charities). Universities are autonomous institutions with some public functions. Some universities are also registered charities and therefore in the third sector.

96. The provisions in the Bill do not differentially affect the rest of the third sector. Third sector organisations are most affected in their capacity as employers or independent training providers.

97. The consultation paper and report segments respondents into categories and page 7 of the report sets out the number of responses by category. Respondents included: training providers (18), private business/employer (8) and third sector/charitable (12). Overall, there were 133 responses from organisations. This is a relatively modest level of response from a large pool of organisations in those categories engaged with tertiary education and training. However, at least part of the explanation is likely to be that these organisations rightly identified that they were not significantly affected by the proposals for legislation.

98. The Policy Memorandum sets out the consultation findings and alternative approaches considered for each Part of the Bill.

99. There will be continuing engagement with employers and businesses through the wider reform programme and as the Bill is implemented, including preparation of subordinate legislation.

Public consultation

100. The Post-School Education and Skills Reform: Consultation on legislation¹ ran as an open public consultation from 25 June to 20 September 2024. The consultation paper set out three proposals for simplifying the funding body landscape:

• Proposal 1. Business as usual (BAU).
• Proposal 2. Consolidate provision funding at the SFC and consolidate student support funding at SAAS.
• Proposal 3. A single funding body, with SFC responsible for all provision and student support funding, and SAAS being dissolved.

101. Some 194 responses were received; 133 from organisations and 61 from individuals. The report on the consultation^[15] was published on 22 January 2025.

102. Wider stakeholder engagement for the consultation included on-line three information sessions which were attended by approximately 60 people.

103. In parallel, with the consultation and analysis, an OBC was developed to appraise each proposal. The OBC^[16] was also published on 22 January 2025. The OBC and consultation analysis informed Ministers’ decision on the preferred proposal and this decision in favour of proposal 2 was announced on 22 January 2025; but does not affect the Bill provision. (The Bill is necessary to support either proposal for change but the provision in the Bill is independent of which is chosen.)

104. With regard to the main simplification proposals, almost 80% of the consultation responses favoured change over BAU. The consultation analysis suggests that: colleges and universities (23 responses) are evenly divided between proposals 2 and 3; local authorities/schools (9) and other public sector (15) generally preferred proposal 2; sector/business representatives (26) generally preferred proposal 3; but training providers (18) and employers (8) are more likely to prefer proposal 1. These are relatively low numbers for some respondent groups, so numbers to be interpreted with caution.

105. The consultation questions around SFC governance arrangements and functions yielded some helpful suggestions for developing the legislation.

Other stakeholders

106. Officials have had further engagement with SDS, the SFC and SAAB to explore the operation of current apprenticeship arrangements and how the legislation might best support future evolution.

107. A discussion paper was tabled for a meeting with SDS and the SFC on 9 September 2024 and at a meeting of the SAAB Short-Life Working Group on 10 September 2024. Based on feedback from these meetings and in correspondence, an updated discussion paper was tabled at a subsequent, combined meeting of the Apprenticeships Group on 1 October 2024. This meeting provided further refinement to the discussion paper and, again, comments were taken in correspondence afterwards. The Policy Memorandum summarises the outputs from those discussions. The discussions and feedback raised important considerations that were carefully considered during the drafting of provisions.