Post-School Education and Skills Reform: Consultation on legislation
Overview
Our post-school education and skills system has a vital role to play in delivering many of our shared ambitions for Scotland – including our four priorities: eradicating child poverty; boosting the economy; tackling climate change; and delivering high quality, efficient public services.
This consultation seeks your views on proposals for changes to the roles of the three funding bodies in the post-school system: Student Awards Agency Scotland; the Scottish Funding Council; and Skills Development Scotland. We are proposing changes to simplify responsibilities for apprenticeships and student support so that we can improve outcomes and be more efficient. We need to legislate to do this.
Read the full consultation paper.
Useful information about responding to this consultation
As you complete your response, each page will provide the option to 'Save and come back later' at the bottom. This means you can save your progress and return to the consultation at any time before it closes. If you don't use this feature and leave the consultation midway through, your response will be lost.
Once you have submitted your response, you can enter your email address to get a pdf copy of your answers sent to you.
On the 'About You' page at the end of this consultation, organisations will have the opportunity to tell us more about their work and/or how their response was informed.
After the consultation has closed there will be a few months delay before any responses are published. This is because we must check any responses to be published abide by our Terms of Use.
A analysis report will usually be published some months after the consultation has closed. This report will summarise the findings based on all responses submitted. It will be published on the Scottish Government website and you may be notified about it if you choose to share your email address with us. You can also join our consulation mailing list where we regularly list newly published analysis reports (as well as new consultations).
Why your views matter
The learner is at the centre of our reform programme. We want to make changes to help to remove or reduce the barriers to entry into, and participation in, post-school education. We want your help to test our proposals for change to make sure they work for those learners and potential learners facing the greatest barriers. We are particularly interested in hearing what learners have to say.
What happens next
All the responses will be independently analysed to produce a consultation report. We will also set out the decisions we have made as a result.
We intend to legislate at the Scottish Parliament so that the law is changed before the end of this session in March 2026. It will be for an incoming administration in 2026 to determine when those changes should happen in practice. We anticipate some of the changes to be made in time for academic year 2026-27.
Interests
- Education
- Public Sector
- Main hub
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