We have submitted our response to the Scottish Government consultation on Post-16 school reform, which closed on Friday 20 September. The consultation considered change to the roles and responsibilities of three public bodies in the post-school landscape: the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) and Skills Development Scotland (SDS).

In our response, following consultation with our 19 members, most favour option 2. This would see the funding of all post-school provision move to the SFC (with apprenticeship funding, sun-degree level, also leaving SDS) and that all student finance support moves to SAAS (with some college student financial support leaving SFC).

Our response to the consultation questions can be found here. This reform agenda raises a number of wider issues which were not covered by the consultation’s questions. To address this, we have also published a wider narrative which should be read alongside our responses to the specific consultation.

Finally, we’ve also produced a summary response for anyone short on time, which you can find here.

Whilst supportive of reform, we are concerned about unintended consequences that could arise. Across our various contributions to the consultation, we are asking both Scottish Government and Parliament to be vigilant on the following points;

• Be clear on the benefits of reform.
• Do a realistic cost assessment of the business case of moving forward with this programme of legislative change.
• Ensure Scottish Government capacity for business-as-usual as there is much to do outwith legislative avenues.
• If going down a legislative route, the SFC’s statutory relationship with “higher education institutions” (HEIs) must remain the same.
• Protect university teaching, research and innovation funding with clear boundaries in Scottish Government budget setting.
• Ensure that “tertiary” still respects the different roles of colleges and universities.