Who is Education Scotland?

Education Scotland is the Scottish Government's national development and improvement agency for education. It is charged with providing support and challenge to the education system, from the early years to adult learning, in furtherance of the government's policy objectives.

It came into existence on 1 July 2011 as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. It was created by bringing together the resources and the functions of Learning and Teaching Scotland, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), the National CPD Team and the Scottish Government's Positive Behaviour Team.

As an executive agency, Education Scotland will operate within a strategic framework which is currently being developed, and will have a set of priorities agreed with Ministers. It has a high degree of operational independence, enabling it, for example, to plan how it will use its resources to carry out its functions, and to report without fear or favour on the quality of education in Scotland.

Budget Figures

The overall budget for Education Scotland for the financial year 2011-12 is £31.95m. The combined HMIE and LTS budget for 2010-11 is £38.38*.

*This does not include budgets for the National CPD or Positive Behaviour teams, which are also now part of Education Scotland.

Headcount

  • On 1 August 2011, Education Scotland had some 373* employees
  • On 1 August 2010, between them, LTS and HMIE had 539 employees

*This is a very fluid number and is arguably artificially low at the moment while structures are resolved. Also, these figures do not include various appointees and others.

issue 42
october 2011