A Tes Scotland investigation has revealed that the boards charged with taking forward the reform of Education Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) have received only a fraction of the funding requested from the Scottish government, leading to accusations that the reforms are being “starved of resource”.
The Scottish government has committed to “reshaping Scotland’s educational infrastructure” and creating three new education agencies: an independent inspectorate; a new qualifications body; and a new national agency for Scottish education.
The changes were announced in response to growing concerns about the current organisations’ performance - and in the wake of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) review of Curriculum for Excellence.
But already there has been controversy over the make-up of the delivery boards charged with taking forward the changes, amid accusations that the failed organisations are being allowed to take forward their own reform and questions about how significant the change will be if they are leading it.
Now correspondence between Scottish government officials - obtained using freedom-of-information (FOI) legislation - once again underlines just how reliant the Scottish government is on the SQA and Education Scotland taking forward its reform agenda, as well as the extent to which it has failed to meet their bids for funding.
Tes Scotland can reveal that initial high-level financial projections from March 2022 estimated that the reform programme would cost £100 million to £150 million a year, over five years.
But, when it comes to the funding received to date, the figures show the delivery board responsible for taking forward the plans for an independent inspectorate and the new education agency received less than a quarter of the funding it requested.
It put in a bid for £1.7 million for 2022-23 and estimated that around 25 staff - including temporary agency staff - would be required to take forward the reform. It received £387,300 and got the go-ahead to recruit just six staff.
Questions over funding for education reform
The board charged with replacing the SQA with a new qualifications body secured less than half of the funding it requested.
It put in a bid for funding of £1.2 million for 2022-23. It then received the salary costs for the 12 full-time equivalent “core” staff it had requested - £461,500 - but was told when it came to the further £750,000 requested for consultancy, this would have to undergo “a high level of scrutiny”.
When submitting its request for funding, the board responsible for the new qualifications body - which is chaired by the SQA’s Mike Baxter - warned that failure to support its request would “result in a failure to deliver ministers’ policy intent and [would] impact on both cost and timescales for delivery”.
Meanwhile, the board responsible for the new education agency and the independent inspectorate - which is chaired by Education Scotland’s Gillian Hamilton - warned that Education Scotland “does not have capacity and/or capability to carry out this additional, very important work”.
It said that if its bid for funding was not met, Education Scotland would come under increasing pressure and there would be “a significant detrimental impact on some key policy areas”, including the government’s flagship policy to close the “poverty-related attainment gap”.
The freedom-of-information request also reveals that the education agency and inspectorate delivery board put in a bid for £2.6 million for 2023-24, and that this was reduced to £595,500.
For between April and August 2024, it estimated that £1.1 million would be needed to deliver on the reform agenda but, according to the papers, this was reduced to £256,400.
Responding to the figures, Labour education spokesperson Michael Marra said the reform process was being “starved of resource, further confirming the lack of ambition or vision from the government”.
He added: “Status quo voices, rejection of the evidence and now no funding to make the change point to the fact there is no political will in the Scottish government to reform, but rather they were dragged kicking and screaming to look like they were doing something to address their disastrous failings.
“Simply, we have a cabinet secretary [for education, Shirley-Anne Somerville) who doesn’t care in a government that doesn’t care, and we have no reform process in Scotland.
“Scotland’s young people will be the ones who lose out.”
Emails between Scottish government staff, released as part of the freedom-of-information request, emphasise the “challenging financial position”.
In one email Clare Hicks, the Scottish government’s director of education reform, talks about the funding requests from the delivery boards being “borne down on” and “reduced...to the minimum viable”.
In that email from June, she also makes it clear that the government’s own education reform team is “lean”, consisting of “less than 20 staff at this point”. She says the government is therefore having to “rely on ES and SQA prioritising activity to meet ministers’ goals”.
Another email between Scottish government officials, also from June, states that “the predecessor organisations’...staff capacity and expertise” are “essential to delivery of the programme”.
The investigation also reveals that early Scottish government high-level financial projections put the cost of creating the three new education agencies in Scotland at £100 million to £150 million a year, over five years.
These projections are based on “previous reform and new public body costs”, including Revenue Scotland - a new organisation of 45 staff - which is to cost £20.2 million over two years.
High-level financial projections produced in March 2022 state: “An early estimate of the cost of structural reform, including digital transformation, is of a need for additional investment over the next five years of between £100 million - £150 million, against a current baseline of around £100 million per annum for the current organisations.”
The Scottish government budget, published in December, shows that £100.3 million has been set aside for “education reform” in 2023-24. However, a further breakdown of that figure shows just £42.5 million has been set aside in 2023-24 for “education reform”, with the rest of the cash going on “curriculum” (£31.5 million) and “Gaelic” (£26.3 million).
Tes Scotland asked the government for more information on exactly how the £100.3 million was going to be used and was told that “detailed activity” would be “announced in due course”.
Responding to the accusation that the reform process is being “starved of resource”, a spokesperson for Ms Somerville said: “It is deeply ironic that the opposition has previously criticised the Scottish government for supposedly having too many staff from the agencies involved in the reform process - now we are being criticised for not employing more staff to carry out reform.
“The reality is we are introducing the most substantial programme of reform to our educational institutions in the history of the Scottish Parliament.
“As part of this, we will replace the SQA, establish a new national education agency and create a new independent inspectorate. Each of these new bodies will be underpinned by new values, new governance and new ways of working.”
The spokesperson added: “Work to reform the national education bodies is led by a Strategic Programme Board and supporting delivery boards. Funding to deliver the programme was included in Resource Spending Review and in the recent Scottish Budget for 23-24. The increase in the education reform budget to over £100 million in 2023-24 demonstrates our commitment for significant change.
“We are continuing to invest in our public services and doing everything possible to ensure that no one is left behind amid huge pressure on public finances. Our shared challenge is to ensure our collective resources improve outcomes, reduce inequalities and prevent harm in sustainable ways.”
The most up-to-date minutes available for the inspectorate and education agency delivery board - which relate to the September meeting and were published in October - highlight the “real risk of insufficient support to schools if Education Scotland is trying to do too many things” and is “stretched further trying to manage the transition to the new agency/inspectorate as well as providing continued system support”.
The minutes also highlight the “financial risk, given that there is no information regarding the financial envelope for the new agency or the new inspectorate”.
