Skills: Shared Outcomes Assurance Group minutes: 29 November 2022

Attendees and apologies

Scottish Government (SG)

• Stephen Pathirana, Director, Advanced Learning and Science (ALS) (Chair)
• Helen Webster, Deputy Director (ALS)
• Richard Dryburgh, Team Lead, Fair Work and Employability (FWES)
• Jane Duffy, Unit Head, Skills Division (FWES)
• Kirstie Corbett, Unit Head, Senior Principal Researcher, Advanced Learning and Skills Analysis (ALSA)
• Liz Hawkins, Senior Principal Research Officer, (Reform)
• Helen McGillivray, Senior Policy Executive, SDS Sponsorship Team

Skills Development Scotland (SDS)

• Andrea Glass, Head of Regions and Enabling Sectors
• Diane Greenlees, Director, Critical Skills and Occupations
• Lynne Robson, Head of Evaluation and Impact
• Linda Christie, Head of Green Skills

Scottish Funding Council (SFC)

• Claire McPherson, Deputy Director for Policy
• Sharon Drysdale, Assistant Director, Skills

Scottish Government Secretariat:

• Linda McCourt, Programmes Unit (ALS)
• Mary Maxwell, Programmes Unit (ALS)
• Alex Brown, Programmes Unit (ALS)

Apologies

• Helena Gray, Director, Fair Work, Employability and Skills (FWES) (SG)
• Adam Reid, Deputy Director (FWES) (SG)
• Elspeth Hough, Head of Programmes Unit (ALS) (SG)

• Stuart King, Senior Principal Research Officer (FWES) (SG)
• James Dunphy, Director of Access, Learning and Outcomes  (SFC)
• Chris Brodie, Director of Regional Skills Planning and Sector Development (SDS)
• Neville Prentice, Senior Director, Service Development and Delivery (SDS)
• Martin Boyle, Director of Policy, Insight and Analytics (SFC)
• Jennifer Bradley, Deputy Director, Head of Education Analytical Services (SG)

Items and actions

Agenda

• 10:00-10:05 Welcome and review of actions by exception (paper 1) - Chair
• 10:05-10:35 Progress updates by exception (paper 2) – SROs
• 10:35-11.05 Deep Dive: Shared Outcomes Framework (SOF) Finalisation (paper 3) – SDS SROs
• 11:05-11:15 Education and Skills Impact Framework (ESIF)  verbal update - SROs
• 11:15- 11.25 Preparation for the ministerial bilateral 
• 11:25-11:30 AOB –  Chair

Minutes

Welcome and review of actions

The Chair welcomed the attendees.

One action from the October Shared Outcomes Assurance Group (SOAG) remained to be  completed: (111022-3), Secretariat to agree with partners timing for future discussions on CESAP learning and CESAP/ Tertiary Pathfinder connections. Date of future discussion to be finalised, not before relevant work packages are concluded.  A discussion had taken place with the NDPBs and the action would now be marked as complete. 

Progress reporting: updates by exception

The meeting heard updates on the following projects, with reference to the Project Status Reports which had been submitted prior to the meeting, with the exception of project 8,  the reporting for which will follow NSET reporting structures.

Foundation apprenticeships: (SOAG/22/01) and graduate apprenticeships (SOAG/22/02)

Three interlinked milestones related to systems reporting, have moved from red to green or blue RAG status, reflecting good progress made. The guidance milestone which was dependent on the reporting issues being resolved has moved to green.

The overall RAG status of the project was amber.  This recognised the reality of current uncertainties of which the agencies did not have control. Ongoing work across SFC, SDS, SG will focus on actions to move the status to green, including scoping of future policy options.

The Joint Executive Group (JEG) had signed off the inter-operational plans ; there has been good progress in the inter-operational space.

Regional pathfinders: North East (SOAG/22/04) and South of Scotland (SOAG/22/05)

The work that has been undertaken for Work Package 1, by SFC, SDS and an external contractor, has been summarised and will be published in early December. A draft will be shared with SOAG partners prior to publication.

The projects that form WP2 will go live in academic year 23/24.. Although the project remains on track, SFC may need to work with partners to understand the implications of the budget and any potential impact on the planned pilots once portfolio allocations are confirmed and sector level splits are finalised.

Pathfinders: CESAP – net zero (SOAG/22/06) and commercial and domestic heat in buildings (SOAG/22/07)

WP1: The publication of the Green Jobs Report, which is part of WP1, also contributes to the evidence for the other parts of this work package. WP1 is now expected to complete in February 2023.

The first two actions on heat decarbonisation (WP2) are on track to be completed to schedule. Actions 3.1 and 3.2 are progressing well. They are marked amber in recognition of additional qualitative work to be carried out, which will impact the gap analysis. The Gateway Review is now expected to  conclude at the end of March 2023. SDS is happy to liaise with the Scottish Government on the findings to date, recognising that Ministers will be interested in progress. The next meeting of the CESAP WP2 Group will discuss this further.

Lifelong upskilling and reskilling (SOAG/22/08)

It was confirmed that the SOAG would continue to have a role in overseeing the development of collaborative work relating to upskilling and reskilling; but that this work would form part of the wider lifelong learning project of the NSET Skilled Workforce programme, governed via NSET. This approach reduced duplication while ensuring that SOAG would continue to provide a regular vehicle for collaborative discussion.

At the present time the RAG rating is red, reflecting that the scope of the NSET project is still being finalised. Work is progressing, however; analysts from Advanced Learning and Skills Analysis (ALSA ) are carrying out analysis and a literature review and working with the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser (OCEA) to consider skills required by particular economic areas.

There will be a deep dive into this project in January; the SRO asked for any comments or suggestions for this to be sent to her. It was proposed that this might be extended to encompass graduate apprenticeships also.

Shared outcomes framework (SOF) finalisation deep dive

A presentation was given on the  work to finalise the metrics for the Shared Outcomes Framework, to replace the interim measures that had been included at publication in March 2022. The group charged with dealing with this has worked with the SROs, have shared findings with both agencies and have held a workshop with external consultants at which a representative of the SG was present.

Once recommendations have been signed off by the agencies’ Boards they will be presented to SOAG for approval and then to Minister for final clearance.

The Upskilling and Reskilling Project has not been subject to this process.

In discussion, the following points were made:

• have the external factors that might change the logic model been identified
• discussions with ALSA on alignment  with NSET metrics and timing are ongoing.Learning is an outcome in its own right. There was a need to understand the interaction with labour market shortages: this is an area which SG partners have been exploring with colleagues
• it is important to start thinking about the issues that are beyond  the scope of the Shared Outcomes Framework to shape public understanding of this work and its contribution to skills alignment
• a query was raised about whether the metrics had been limited to existing data. It was confirmed that some data was already available but that it was likely some research would have to be carried out to provide additional data for the metrics

Update on education and skills impact framework (ESIF)

The London Economics (LE)  Report and the three accompanying contextual reports on MAs, Colleges and Universities will be published on 2nd December. This will conclude the original ESIF work commissioned by the ESSB.

Future work on the economic and social impact of post-16 education will be discussed at the Collaborative Working Group in January, including refreshing the ToR and membership of the LEO Governance Group to steer future analytical work in that space, if agreed.

In discussion it was noted that the ESIF work was originally commissioned to look at both economic and social impacts: the social research strand is not yet fully developed. Work on the social research strand will also be discussed at the Collaborative Group meeting in January with consideration to be given for how this work is to be taken forward.

Preparation for ministerial meeting

The meeting discussed preparation for the ministerial bilateral meeting.

Any other business

The meeting was updated briefly on changes to publication policy guidelines, noting the SOAG secretariat were working through implications for publication of meeting papers to remain consistent with accessibility requirements.

The chair thanked the group for a productive meeting and reminded the meeting of the procedures to be taken under GDPR were any participants to object to the inclusion of their information in the SOAG minutes which were to be published on SG website.

Actions

• action (291122 –1): Outstanding action from October (111022-3) to be marked completed
• action (291122 –2): The outputs will be shared with SOAG partners prior to publication in early December
• action (291122 –3): SDS will liaise with analytical, research and SOAG SG colleagues on CESAP WP2 -  prior to Gateway Review in March, to consider the extent to which the demand for skills for heat decarbonisation can be determined with certainty as this follows policy and the investment which drives demand
• action (291122 –4): The  Deep Dive at the SOAG in January 2023 will be on Upskilling/Reskilling/ Lifelong Learning
• action (291122-5): SOF Finalisation Metrics and Outcomes for all SOF projects except Upskilling & Reskilling will be completed before end of year.  This will include clarifying the route for approval.  The approach for Upskilling & Reskilling, which will form part of the NSET Lifelong Learning project, will be considered after the Deep Dive in January
• action (291122-6): The current ESIF collaborative working group will be reconvened in January to carry out a “wash-up” of the work to date and to discuss collaboratively next steps, identifying any gaps in evidence to inform future work