Implementing 'A Blueprint for Fairness': progress report

The Recommendations

The Commission set out 34 recommendations ( Annex A) which it believed would support Scotland to achieve the goal of equal access for people from deprived backgrounds or with a care experience. Recommendations were made for schools, colleges, universities, local authorities, the Scottish Government and its agencies, as well as for a new Commissioner for Fair Access. Annex B shows which parts of the system the Commission envisaged should lead on the delivery of each recommendation.

The Commission noted the importance of all its recommendations; however, it chose to highlight a small number of foundational recommendations which reflected the bold action it believed would be necessary to deliver a step change in progress. These were:

• The appointment of a Commissioner for Fair Access (Recommendation 1);
• The development of a Framework for Fair Access to provide Scotland with an authoritative, evidence based framework to guide future access work and set the benchmark for access interventions going forward. (Recommendations 2 and 3);
• The introduction of access thresholds for all degree programmes, and more transparency and promotion of these and wider contextual admissions policies (Recommendations 11 and 12);
• A guaranteed offer of a place and a full bursary for students with a care experience who meet the minimum entry requirements (Recommendations 21 and 22);
• Implementation of targets to drive forward equal access to higher education in Scotland (Recommendation 32).