Chamber and committees

Yes.

Yes, convener. It was very useful.

Thank you both. That is all from me for now, convener.

For the purposes of time, I will ask only one question, which is on the governance arrangements around curriculum for excellence and, specifically, on the OECD’s findings relating to the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Education Scotland, which are the two major agencies that are responsible for delivery, and their relationship.

In response to the OECD’s report, the Scottish Government announced that those two bodies will, in essence, be merged. Education Scotland’s inspection function is being removed. That function will be carried out independently, which is supported across the Parliament. However, the body that is responsible for developing the curriculum and the body that is responsible for developing qualifications will be brought together. I recognise the point that was made about the qualifications system and the curriculum simply not aligning, so, on the face of it, it makes a lot of sense to bring the two agencies together in order to get, I hope, better alignment. However, is that a common governance arrangement in other comparable education systems?

Although it is not a registrable interest, I have membership of the Disclosure Scotland protection of vulnerable groups scheme for the purposes of youth work with the Church of Scotland.