Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill - Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) Record

Who will it affect?

The Bill is expected to enable significant positive changes to the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of NTPs, apprenticeships and work-based learning. The Bill, of itself, does not have an impact on users or those who engage with, and form part of, the post-school education and skills system such as learners, employers, institutions, and other training providers.

The Bill provisions offer potential opportunities to improve outcomes for people with protected characteristics through their participation in tertiary education and training as part of their lifelong learning journey. The impacts have not yet been mapped or quantified. However, a full exploration will inform the implementation of the Bill. These potential opportunities are discussed below.

• Sections 3 to 5 of the Bill modify Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 (“the 2005 Act”) to give the Scottish Ministers the power to make grants to the SFC for the purposes of securing the delivery of NTPs, Scottish apprenticeships and work-based learning. They also define these activities and confer relevant functions on the SFC. This is aimed at ensuring that the SFC is able to secure the delivery of these programmes, apprenticeships and work-based learning rather than change how these are delivered, for example, by colleges, employers or training providers. This may in turn help improve access to learning and training for people with one or more of the nine protected characteristics.
• Section 8 of the Bill expands the scope of efficiency studies, carried out by the SFC under the 2005 Act, expressly to include the needs and interests of learners. This may result in appropriate measures being in place to help ensure that the voices of people with one or more protected characteristics are carefully listened to when reviewing the effective operation of tertiary education institutions, for example.
• Section 10 of the Bill gives the SFC the power to issue guidance to fundable bodies and any other person in receipt of funding under the new functions conferred by the Bill. This guidance may relate to how these bodies and persons can contribute to improving outcomes for learners with protected characteristics.
• Section 11 of the Bill places a duty on the SFC, in carrying out all its functions, to have regard to the desirability of protecting and promoting the interests of current and prospective learners. This provision has the potential to impact positively people with one or more protected characteristics by making sure that the delivery and administration of learning and training take a learner-centred approach.
• Section 15 of the Bill expands the matters to which the Scottish Ministers are to have regard in appointing members of the SFC. The Scottish Ministers are additionally to have regard to the desirability of including persons who have experience of, and shown capacity in, the provision of Scottish apprenticeships and work-based learning. The approach taken in the Bill is to make the essential changes in respect of the expanded remit of the SFC and the shifting emphasis around conflict-of-interest. The Scottish Ministers are not precluded from having regard to other matters or characteristics in making appointments.
• The Bill does not make provisions for the movement of staff from Skills Development Scotland (SDS), the organisation which is currently responsible for delivery of NTPs and apprenticeships, to the SFC. However, relevant staff from SDS may move to the SFC to deliver these functions as part of implementation. This may mean that there will be changes to staffing levels at SDS and the SFC, and some staff could have a change of employer. Additionally, terms and conditions for some staff may change. All this will be the subject of further work, including engagement with HR, recognised trade unions and affected staff.