Following a legislative amendment, Qualifications Scotland is a named producer of official statistics, as the Scottish Qualifications Authority was before it.

We produce official statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics 3.0 (‘Code 3.0’ or ‘the Code’).

Background

Qualifications Scotland is made up of two distinct and autonomous areas:

  • Qualifications Scotland, Scotland’s national awarding body

  • Qualifications Scotland Accreditation

Qualifications Scotland’s awarding body publishes statistics and information on our website.

We publish statistics on accredited qualifications (from Qualifications Scotland and other awarding bodies) on the Qualifications Scotland Accreditation website.

Complying with the Code

Qualifications Scotland complies with the Code in the official statistics it publishes, in line with the Code’s three principles: trustworthiness, quality and value.

Trustworthiness

An analytics team within Qualifications Scotland works independently on the statistics and information that we release, to make sure it is presented accurately and impartially, and free from political input.

We produce a publication schedule for both statistics and information releases in line with our Release policy. This policy also details the conditions in which we create and retain pre-release access lists.

We manage our statistical data in line with our Confidentiality policy.

Quality

The main source of data for Qualifications Scotland’s awarding body is its award processing system. Additional, external information comes from the Scottish Government’s school education statistics, including pupil stage and pupil census data. In our data management approach and quality management approach, we set out the practices and procedures we follow to maintain the high quality of our statistics.

You can find out more about the methods we use to generate our published statistics and information on our publication-linked background information pages (such as our background information for attainment statistics), where we also explain any limitations.

In our revisions and corrections policy, we outline what we do if we need to revise or correct any of our published statistics.

Value

Qualifications Scotland publish various statistics and information on our website. For example, we publish attainment statistics that give an overview of national qualifications outcomes for learners on results day in August. These numbers have informed public debates on educational attainment in Scotland since 1986. Users do not currently pay for information like this, as we detail in our Services statements.

Qualifications Scotland engages regularly with the people who use our awarding body and accreditation services to make sure we meet their needs. We use this information to:

  • prioritise statistical work

  • find out whether the statistics we produce are sufficiently relevant and useful

  • develop our annual statistical work programme.

You can find more information in our public involvement and engagement strategy.

Compliance

The head of profession (our head of data and analytics) has the final decision on any action necessary to comply with these procedures.

Questions or comments?

We want this information to be as helpful as possible. Please email us at data.analytics@qualifications.gov.scot with questions or general comments.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code. You can also email us at data.analytics@qualifications.gov.scot with your comments on how we’re meeting these standards, or you can contact OSR by email at regulation@statistics.gov.uk, or through the OSR website.