Meeting of the Parliament 24 June 2025 [Draft]
First, let me say a huge thank you to the legislation team, who have been working day and night to support members across the chamber with the amendments that they wanted to lodge. I put on record my thanks to my own team, who have supported me at stages 1, 2 and 3 of the bill. Despite how we might at some points disagree today across the chamber, I also thank other parties for the discussions that we have had between stages 1, 2 and 3.
At the heart of this first group of amendments is a simple principle: parity of esteem. Learners who require additional support—not only to read a qualifications document but to sit the exam, receive their results and progress afterwards—must enjoy exactly the same standing in Scotland’s qualifications system as every other learner.
Why does that matter? First, because the law already obliges us, under the 2004 act and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to remove barriers and not just to acknowledge them. Secondly, because fairness is meaningless if the format of an assessment or the way that its rules are communicated locks out some candidates from the start.
My amendments in this group set out to deliver on the principle of parity of esteem. Amendment 165 would place a clear, statutory duty on qualifications Scotland to communicate inclusively whenever it publishes anything, including exam specifications, candidate guides and appeals leaflets.
Amendments 166 and 167 would work with Mr Briggs’s amendment 76 to update the language in the bill, removing reference to “additional support needs” and instead using the term “educational support needs”, to ensure that adult learners with support needs are given the same recognition and support as children and young people.
Amendments 248 and 249 would carry the same obligations into the education inspectorate so that inspection reports, thematic reviews, consultations and recommendations are just as accessible and, therefore, just as actionable.
Amendment 321, in the name of the cabinet secretary, would duplicate the inclusive communication duty on the chief inspector of education that my amendment 165 would place on qualifications Scotland. Therefore, in the spirit of consensus, I will not move amendment 168 and, instead, ask colleagues to support amendment 321 to ensure that the inspectorate communicates in the same inclusive way as we will ask qualifications Scotland to do.
Inclusive communication is the gateway to every other reasonable adjustment—extra time, alternative formats, assistive technology and quiet spaces—because a learner cannot request an adjustment if they cannot first access the rules. Embedding an inclusive communication duty in statute would guarantee early, proactive support and consistency across schools and colleges, and it would help to develop a culture that is designed for all from the outset.
Scottish Labour will support Mr Briggs’s amendments 1 and 5, which would update the language in section 3 to cover adult learners and require qualifications Scotland to publish clear guidance on adjustments. We will also support his amendment 76, which provides the appropriate definitions.
Parity of esteem must be more than a slogan. It is a promise that all learners will have access to an equal chance to succeed. I therefore intend to move amendment 165 and invite the chamber to support the full package of amendments in this group so that parity, recognition and real accommodation are built into Scotland’s new qualifications regime from day 1.