Education (Scotland) Bill: business and regulatory impact assessment

Sectors and Groups Affected

Qualifications Scotland

Awarding bodies operating in Scotland

The Scottish Government recognises that effective accreditation and regulation of the qualifications on offer in Scotland is essential for a thriving and world-leading education and skills system. Ensuring the quality of qualifications is crucial to protecting young people and adult learners and encouraging a wide range of qualifications and awards for learners, education establishments, employers and industry sectors. Qualifications Scotland will support a high-quality education and skills sector in Scotland by providing effective regulation for the delivery and assessment of qualifications. This allows users to make informed choices on suitable qualifications. Through an effective qualifications accreditation process, awarding bodies can clearly demonstrate that their qualifications are of a high-standard and support them to be competitive in a highly active market, providing consumers with clear information on the value of different qualifications.

Employers, Industry and Training Providers

Qualifications Scotland will work with and support employers, industry sectors, and training providers in a number of different ways. The qualifications developed and offered by Qualifications Scotland will need to be developed in ways that take appropriate consideration of employer, industry and training provider needs and expectations. This is to ensure those who undertake, achieve and recognise qualifications have confidence in the relevance of them to the workplace, industry sector, or training programme. Furthermore, employers, industry leaders and training providers may also be direct users of Qualifications Scotland’s qualifications development, assessment, certification or accreditation services. Additionally, these organisations will also be able to offer and deliver Qualifications Scotland’s qualifications by becoming approved awarding centres.

Individuals

Qualifications Scotland will ensure a wide range of different types of qualifications can be offered to individuals in Scotland. Qualifications Scotland will have responsibility for setting and publishing the requirements that must be met in order for qualifications to be accredited. These requirements must be published to ensure the accreditation process is transparent. Obtaining accredited status for a qualification will clearly indicate that the highest standards in the delivery and assessment of qualifications have been met and approved by the national standards-setting body. Provision of a wide range of qualifications will allow Qualifications Scotland to play a leading role in supporting individuals to reach their full potential and gain the qualifications they need to progress to their next stage in life, giving them confidence to succeed in the workplace or elsewhere. Skills and qualifications will give individuals the means to make the most of their economic and employment opportunities.

Other Public Bodies

Qualifications Scotland will be operating in the wider context of Scottish education, impacting on employment, industry, skills, voluntary and economic systems, alongside a range of other Scottish Public Bodies that support these sectors. These include, but are not limited to, the Agency replacing Education Scotland, Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council. The new body will be expected to work with these organisations, and others to support wider strategies that support learners, the education sector, businesses, industry, charities and the Scottish economy.

Office of HM Chief Inspector of Education in Scotland

For the purposes of this Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment, we consider the affected groups to include; independent schools, some community learning providers, private early learning and childcare partner providers, English language school providers and private prisons.

It is not considered that this part of the Education (Scotland) Bill will have a direct positive or negative effect on any of these groups, as the inspection of their establishments, undertaken by His Majesty’s appointed Inspectors, is already current practice. Changes will be seen in how the function is delivered through any new operational arrangements set by the new independent body rather than by the legislation.