Entrepreneurial Education Pathways funding: FOI release

Information requested

1. What budget was allocated to the Education Pathways fund and what budget was allocated to the Enterprise Pathways announced for 2024-25?

2. What was the date for each of the funds first submitted for approval . What date was the budget for each of the funds approved and what date were the funds finally signed off and approved by senior civil servants?

3. Both the Education Enterprise Pathways fund and the Enterprise Pathways funds had a scoring system and an expert panel making the decisions. What was the scoring mechanism for each of the funds and how was it broken down ? Please supply details of how scores were allocated, for example on value for money, relevance to the fund criteria and other criteria. Was this scoring system supplied to bidders for the Fund. If not what was the rationale for not providing the breakdown to bidders. Was the judging panel for each fund comprised purely of civil servants or were external judges brought in. If external what criteria was used for selecting them.

4. A previous Enterprise Pathways fund was run in 2023-24. Please supply details of any evaluations of this particular fund, how the projects were monitored and how the information from those projects was used to inform the two funds under offer in 2024-25.

Response

What budget was allocated to the Education Pathways fund and what budget was allocated to the Enterprise Pathways announced for 2024-25?

• Budget allocated to the Entrepreneurial Education Pathways Fund: up to £885,000
• Budget allocated to the Pathways Fund: up to £1,100,000
• Final allocation of funds to projects was announced on 15 November. Details can be found at Creating future business leaders - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) https://www.gov.scot/news/creating-future-businessleaders/

What was the date for each of the funds first submitted for approval . What date was the budget for each of the funds approved and what date were the funds finally signed off and approved by senior civil servants?

Budgetary approval on total entrepreneurship spend, including the two funds, was requested on 25 June 2024 and approved by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Gaelic and Economy on 3 July 2024.

Emergency spending controls were introduced on 13 August 2024. Following further financial scrutiny, entrepreneurship spending plans, including the budgets allocated to the two funds, were confirmed on 25 October 2024.

Both the Education Enterprise Pathways fund and the Enterprise Pathways funds had a scoring system and an expert panel making the decisions. What was the scoring mechanism for each of the funds and how was it broken down ? Please supply details of how scores were allocated, for example on value for money, relevance to the fund criteria and other criteria. Was this scoring system supplied to bidders for the Fund. If not what was the rationale for not providing the breakdown to bidders. Was the judging panel for each fund comprised purely of civil servants or were external judges brought in. If external what criteria was used for selecting them.

Applications to the Entrepreneurial Education Pathways Fund were evaluated evenly across the four fund criteria:

• Alignment with entrepreneurial education objectives;
• Alignment with Curriculum for Excellence;
• Quality of programme
• Value for money.

Applications to the Pathways Fund were evaluated evenly across the following areas:

• Alignment to the Pathways recommendations and fund criteria
• Quality of the programme
• Value for money
• Potential to scale or develop the programme

The Alignment, Quality of Programme and Potential to Scale scores were assessed with reference to the key criteria set out on the fund information pages:

• widening participation
• advance greater inclusion, equality and diversity
• support for wider Scottish Government priorities
• community involvement
• working in partnership
• Fair Work framework

The Value for Money score was assessed based on the costs of the programme in relation to the anticipated outputs and outcomes.

The assessment panel for the Entrepreneurial Education Pathways Fund was made up of civil servants from the Scottish Government’s Economic Development Directorate and Education Scotland.

The assessment panel for the Pathways Fund was made of civil servants from the Scottish Government’s Economic Development Directorate.

A previous Enterprise Pathways fund was run in 2023-24. Please supply details of any evaluations of this particular fund, how the projects were monitored and how the information from those projects was used to inform the two funds under offer in 2024-25.

Details of the pilot projects funded through the Pathways Pre-Start fund in 2023-24 are available on the Scottish Government website. Projects funded were asked to complete standard monitoring reports during and at the end of their project. This information has allowed initial assessment of the reach of the projects and the outputs delivered.

The short-term nature of the programmes supported limits the information and evidence available to undertake a complete evaluation at this stage, in particular assessment of long-term impact. However, early indications, based on project reporting suggested good uptake of support, delivery against stated objectives and strong market demand for further support.

This supported the decision to continue to make funding available to support partner-led programmes in the current financial year, continuing to test the market and gather evidence on a range of approaches to widening participation in entrepreneurial activity, alongside our agency led programme in the South of Scotland. Funding was offered on a competitive basis to allow us to identify potential new delivery partners and support a broad range of activity across the country.

The results of pilot activity funded through the Pathways Pre-Start Fund 2023/24, the current Pathways Fund and the South of Scotland Enterprise led Pre-Start Pilot Programme will be evaluated to support decision-making on a longer-term approach to pre-start business support and the wider implementation of the Pathways report’s recommendations.

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