For the first three-and-a-half years they are in existence, it is estimated that the extra costs associated with Scotland’s new independent inspectorate and its new qualifications body could be under £1 million - or over £30 million, Tes Scotland can reveal.
The cost projections are contained in the financial memorandum accompanying new education legislation that will dissolve the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and replace it with Qualifications Scotland, as well as create a new independent inspectorate.
The financial memorandum says the new bodies - which are expected to come into being in autumn of 2025 - will “carry out broadly similar functions” and costs are, therefore, “in the most part expected to be similar”.
Cost of setting up new bodies ‘hard to estimate’
However, it adds that there will be “one-off costs and some additional recurring costs”.
It also says that precise costs are hard to estimate because they “will depend on the specific detail of their operational form which is still under development”.
The total cost to the public purse (recurring and one-off costs), it says, could range from as little as £791,000 - to as much as £30.1 million (£30,094,000).
It is projected that - although overall the new independent inspectorate, referred to as the Chief Inspector of Education in Scotland, will have a smaller budget than Qualifications Scotland - it will cost more to set up.
In terms of recurring costs, the creation of Qualifications Scotland will either save the Scottish government money - up to £7.9 million from 2025-26 to 2028-29 - or cost very little - only around half a million over the same period.
In the case of the new inspectorate, the recurring cost to the public purse could be significantly higher than currently - ranging from a low of £7.1 million over the period from 2025-26 to 2028-29, to a high of £27.2 million.
Uncertainty over number of inspection staff
One key reason for the variation in the estimated cost is that it is not known how many inspections the new body will ultimately carry out and, therefore, how many staff it will require.
The new legislation would leave it to the office of the chief inspector to set the frequency and focus for inspections, as opposed to this remaining under the control of the Scottish government.
The financial memorandum therefore looks at the impact of “an anticipated range of between 250 and 360 [inspections] per year”.
Currently, the HMIE inspection function within Education Scotland aims to carry out 250 inspections a year. It is estimated that if inspections increase to 360 a year, an additional 30 inspectors and 15 support staff would be required.
New inspectorate may move into separate offices
It is also suggested that it could be “favourable” for the independent inspectorate to have its own home - as opposed to sharing office space with Education Scotland - given “a driving factor for reform and new legislation is to separate the inspection function from wider Education Scotland improvement functions”. However, this would also result in increased costs.
One new cost that will be incurred by Qualifications Scotland, identified in the financial memorandum, is £119,000 to £124,000 a year for two additional board of management members and teacher and learner panel members.
The reform of the SQA was triggered, in large part, by accusations it had lost the confidence of teachers and students - particularly during the pandemic.
Some of the measures in the new bill attempt to address this - although teachers are already questioning how significant cultural change will be when all SQA staff at the moment it is replaced by Qualifications Scotland, will transfer to the new body.
Attempt to reflect teachers’ views on qualifications
Still, the legislation places a requirement on Qualifications Scotland to establish dedicated committees for students and for teachers, and for it to create two specific “charters” to set out what both groups expect from Qualifications Scotland
Today, education secretary Jenny Gilruth said this would “ensure the knowledge and experience of pupils and teachers are central to decisions taken on qualifications and assessment”.
One-off costs identified in the financial memorandum include those associated with the rebranding of the bodies and establishing new websites (estimated at up to £292,000 in 2025-26 for both organisations).
However, the largest one-off cost - up to just over £1 million in the first year - is for additional staff within the Scottish government’s Education Reform Division “to support the establishment of both bodies”.
The transfer of staff to the new bodies, meanwhile, is expected to cost up to £500,000 in 2025-26.
For the latest Scottish education news, analysis and features delivered directly to your inbox, sign up to Tes magazine’s The Week in Scotland newsletter
