Education Reform Policy and Legislation Delivery Board minutes : October 2022

Attendees and apologies

Attendees 

• Lisa Bird (LB) Chair
• Chris Graham (CG)
• Nico McKenzie-Juetten (NMc)
• Laura Murdoch (LM)
• Fiona Robertson (FR)
• Tracy Kirk (TK)
• Alison Taylor (AT)
• Linda Pooley (LP)
• Naomi Stanford (NS)
• Helen Webster (HW)
• Steve Borely (SB)
• Janie McManus (JM)
• Tracy Manning (TM)
• Sandra Aitken (SA)
• Jane Duffy (JD)
• Neil Cardwell (NC)
• Chris Dunne (CD)

Apologies 

• Robert Skey
• Sean Stronach
• Matthew Sweeney
• Eleanor Passmore
• Adam Reid 
• Campbell Wilson

PMO

• Gillian Winters

Items and actions

Items and actions

Summary of decisions and action points

DB1810 – AP10 : Board to feedback any comments on the ‘vision’ that has been considered by Programme Board. Any comments to LB.

DB1810 – AP11 : GW to share copies of the slides with Board.

DB1810 – AP12 : GW to share copies of the Gateway Review with Board.

DB1810 – AP13 : GW to share Strategic Outline Case with Board.  

DB1810 – AP14 : CD to share Dependency Management Strategy with the Board following endorsement by Programme Board. 

DB1810 – AP15 : All to respond by correspondence any views or questions around the approach, strategy or timeline. 

DB1810 – AP16 : All to respond by correspondence any comments or questions around the highlight reports, specifically the risks noted and actions planned.

Note of Meeting and Actions Points

Welcome and Introductions

LB welcomed members to the Policy & Legislation Delivery Board, she noted new members and highlighted apologies.

Minutes and Action Points  

GW noted DB02 minutes were issued on the 7th September and comments requested by 20th September.  Additional comments were received around the wording on offer of support for inclusive communication and the approach to CR(W)IAs. The minutes were updated to reflect the comments received.  The minutes will now be marked as approved.

It was noted that the Programme Board and Delivery Board minutes will be published on SG website. We are currently working through the process with our web teams.

She noted there were 2 actions raised at DB02 and 2 outstanding from DB01. All 4 actions have now been cleared.

Strategic Values and Direction

LB shared a slide deck previously shared with Programme Board. The slides described the overall programme vision and mission and then covered the key responsibilities of the Programme Board and Delivery Boards in championing the reform programme and providing strategic advice, support, challenge, scrutiny and assurance. It showed the relationship between both Boards especially in relation to the outputs from the various Delivery Boards. The slides also covered the recent Gateway Review rating and recommendations, highlighting the good progress made on programme structure and governance, as well as noting the need for continued focus and appropriate resourcing around communications, including to support transition planning to the new bodies. 

Action: Board to feedback any comments on the ‘vision’ that has been considered by Programme Board. Any comments to LB.

Owner: LB

Deadline: 03/11/22

 

Action: GW to share copies of the slides with Board.

Owner: GW

Deadline: 01/11/22

 

Action: GW to share copies of the Gateway Review with Board.

Owner: GW

Deadline: 01/11/22

LB noted that the role of the Policy and Legislation Board was different in nature to the other Delivery Boards in that it focuses on policy and cross-cutting activity, in support of structural reform. A work plan is under development to support members and to ensure timely engagement with all programme elements as they develop.

It was noted that following feedback from all Delivery Boards, a final version of the Strategic Outline Case (SOC) had been shared with Programme Board. Additional feedback will be fed into the Outline Business Case (OBC) which is scheduled to go to the Programme Board in November.

Action: GW to share SOC with Board. 

Owner: GW

Deadline: 01/11/22

There was a discussion on the timing of wider reform work and the need to ensure this feeds into this work. Target Operating Models (TOMs) will continue to be developed and refined and will be able to draw on feedback from National Discussion and the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment. The National Discussion will run until early December. Its findings will be taken into account by Professor Louise Hayward as part of the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessments when it completes its work and makes its recommendations later next year.  The outputs and recommendations from these two critical pieces of work will be reflected in the design of the new bodies.  CD advised that a forthcoming Dependency Management Strategy would help address how the workstreams will come together. The Dependency Management Strategy document will be shared with the next Programme Board.

Action: CD to share Dependency Management Strategy with the Board following sign off by SRO. 

Owner: CD

Deadline: 17/11/22

There was a discussion regarding the approach to managing and delivering the programme. It was agreed that it was important to ensure we have the right balance of assurance and governance in place to support monitoring and delivery. We will need to continue to assess progress and resourcing to ensure it is proportionate.

Discussion followed on the importance of engaging with children and young people on reform. This will ensure the programme continues to benefit from their challenge and experiences and this will be more to the fore of activity as we develop the TOM work. The importance of ensuring that engagement is truly inclusive and brings together young people who might not historically have engaged with us was highlighted.

Some comments made on the Highlight Reports from the other Delivery Boards (Below the Line papers). Representatives from the other Delivery Boards agreed to consider these.

Comms & Engagement Update   

NC provided a short update on our current communication and engagement approach and strategy. This reflected both recent activity and outputs from a joint SG/ES/SQA workshop on Monday 17 October. 

Activity for the rest of this year was discussed along with an overview of future activity for 2023.

Action: All to respond by correspondence any views or questions around the approach, strategy or timeline. 

Owner: NC

Deadline: 01/11/22

Legislative Process Update

CG gave an overview of progress and the timeline for the introduction of the bill.

GW give an overview of the Highlight report noting this had developed since the last Board with the risks now included.

Action: All to respond by correspondence any comments or questions around the highlight reports, specifically the risks noted and actions planned.

Owner: GW

Deadline: 01/11/22

AOB & BTL Paper 

LB indicated that we would consider meeting timings to reflect agenda.

LB thanked Bboard members for their contributions and ended the meeting.