Updating of the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards)(Scotland) Regulations 1967: consultation response analysis
Analysis of responses from the consultation on Updating the School Premises Regulations (General Requirements and Standards)(Scotland) Regulations 1967.
Introduction
Background
This report presents analysis of responses to a consultation on the Updating of the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967. The consultation opened on 17 July 2017 and closed on 9 October 2017.
The Regulations prescribe the broad minimum standards that school buildings must meet. School premises Regulations ensure that the specific needs of pupils are met particularly on issues that might impact on their welfare such as washrooms or lighting, or on their education such as access to playing fields. The aim of the review is to ensure the Regulations are up to date, by removing unnecessary Regulations and updating or retaining those that remain. This should have the effect of minimising bureaucracy whilst ensuring buildings are appropriate for educating children and young people.
The consultation focused on four areas:
- Regulations which we proposed to retain unchanged
- Regulations which we proposed to retain and update
- Regulations which we proposed to remove
- Regulations to be applied to Independent Schools
Revised Regulations are expected to come into force in 2018.
How the consultation was run
The consultation paper (available at http://consult.gov.scot/school-infrastructure/updating-of-the-school-premises/) asked a total of 25 questions with responses submitted via Citizen Space or by email. Respondents were asked to indicate whether they were answering as an individual or on behalf of an organisation, organisations were then asked what type of organisation they were. The majority of the 77 respondents who submitted a response answered most but not all of the questions, with some answering those only pertaining to their particular area of expertise. The first 22 questions asked for Yes or No answers and comments were requested from those who were not in agreement with the proposal.
Who responded
In total, 77 standard consultation responses were received, 40 from groups or organisations and 37 from individual members of the public. The majority of responses were received through the Scottish Government’s Citizen Space consultation hub.
A breakdown of the number of responses received by respondent type is set out in Table 1 below and a full list of organisational respondents can be found in Annex 1.
Table 1: Respondents by type
| Type of respondent | Number |
|---|---|
| Organisations: | |
| Buildings and Infrastructure | 3 |
| Early Years | 2 |
| Equality and Diversity | 4 |
| Food and Catering | 1 |
| Independent Schools | 3 |
| Inspection, Regulatory and Advocacy | 2 |
| Land and Greenspace | 5 |
| Local Authority | 15 |
| Professional Body | 1 |
| Sports and Leisure | 1 |
| Trade Unions | 2 |
| Youth Work | 1 |
| Total Organisations | 40 |
| Individuals | 37 |
| Total | 77 |
This report
This report presents a summary of the comments and suggestions made on each of the 25 questions of the consultation and also sets out some of the other issues people raised. Respondents were asked to comment if they did not agree with the proposal; however those in agreement also chose to respond. In all but one question, those not in agreement were the minority. The Scottish Government has access to all of the feedback from the consultation overall.
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