Commission for the Land-based Learning Review minutes: November 2022

Attendees and apologies

Commission members

• Liz Barron-Majerik
• Rachel Cowper
• Steven Grier
• George Jamieson
• Heather Jones
• Jamie Newbold
• Gail Robertson
• Claudia Rowse
• David Thomson
• James Wylie

Scottish Government officials

• Muriel Mackenzie
• Amanda Millar
• Connie Smith
• Heather Wilson

Report writer

•  Ian Pearce

Apologies

Commission members

• Ishabel Bremner

• Chris Brodie

• Andy Leitch

• Amy Jo Reid

Scottish Government

• Amanda Fox

Items and actions

Items and actions

The Chair welcomed members and outlined the structure of the meeting.

The note of the previous meeting on 27 September 2023 was agreed.
 The remaining outstanding actions from the action log were reported as completed or superseded by other work.

• Jamie Newbold confirmed that the Defra Green Loans Scheme has still not reached the launch stage so information on this is not available

Discussion on first draft of the Commission report

The Co-chair led the discussion on the first draft of the report on which Commission members had submitted written comments. Members were given the opportunity to raise any of their submitted comments with the other members.

Members of the Commission raised and discussed parts of the report content and structure. 

Draft recommendations

This discussion focused on the content and wording of each recommendation and identify if there was anything missing. The Co-chairs advised that any suggested changes will be incorporated for the circulation of the second draft report. Members were reminded that they would receive the next draft on 28 November.

Publication and launch of report

The Co-chair outlined proposals for the formal submission of the report to Scottish Government Ministers, that would also be the report publication and launch and asked members for suggestions for this.

The Co-chairs suggested a meeting of Commission members in June 2023 to review progress and will seek members views on this.

Following suggestion and subsequent discussion, it was agreed that members will consider their top three recommendations and send them to the Secretariat. These will then be considered for inclusion in the executive summary.

Members requested that any draft press release be shared with them in advance.
As it was the last formal meeting of the Commission, the Co-chairs thanked everyone for all of their commitment and hard work as Commission members.

Actions

• commission members agreed to source further information and share with the report writer: 
  • information on outdoor learning standards from Newbattle Abbey College 
  • details of research on outdoor learning for secondary schools
  • NHS information on Scotland’s Natural Health Service which may have some useful overlap with outdoor learning
• members are to advise Secretariat if they attended any of the stakeholder engagement sessions on behalf of their organisations rather than as Commission members
• members to provide any further comments on the recommendations by email to the Secretariat
• commission members to provide any launch suggestions to the Secretariat
• commission members agreed to source photographs for the report
• co-chairs will seek members views on a June 2023 meeting
• members to select their top three recommendations and send to the Secretariat