Education (Scotland) Act 1980 Section 70 guidance document: analysis of consultation responses

Background

1. The Scottish Government opened a consultation ^[1] on Section 70 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 - a guidance document for users of the section 70 process on 28 August 2017. The purpose of the consultation was to seek views from the public and interested stakeholders on the draft guidance prior to the publication of the final guidance.

2. The guidance on section 70 complaints to Scottish Ministers is intended to provide support to all those involved in the section 70 process, including those who are considering or who have made a section 70 complaint. The guidance document explains the changes made by section 24 of the Education (Scotland) Act 2016 and the Section 70 (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 to the section 70 process.

3. The guidance seeks to set out in detail what can be considered within a section 70 complaint, what cannot be considered, and in those circumstances how a complaint relating to certain matters may be made. The guidance is also intended to provide information on the way in which complaints are considered and provide advice and guidance on how to make a complaint.

4. The draft guidance document was developed in partnership with a range of key stakeholders including representatives from the Advisory Group for Additional Support for Learning.