Core Facts Local Authority Network Event James Boyce, Friday 11 December

School Estates Core Facts To measure national progress against the aims and objectives of the School Estates strategy. Why the school estates collection is necessary and important Used at both local and national level to: inform targets; inform spending decisions; support monitoring and evaluation of progress over time; support assessments of value for money.

School Estates Core Facts What do we collect through the school estates core facts collection? The Core Facts capture aspects of the five elements: condition, sufficiency, suitability, life cycle management and design, some other basic data on the estate and some financial data relating to the estate. Annual data collection since April 2007 (official statistics); Experimental statistics collected in December 2004; Core Facts 2010 – consultation via the ScotXed on-line forum.

School Estates Core Facts How do we collect the school estates core facts data? ScotXed (Scottish Exchange of Educational Data). ScotXed provides the secure delivery mechanism to support data exchanges between partners across the Scottish education community. ScotXed provide these data to analytical teams within the Scottish Government to: provide relevant and reliable information, analysis and advice that meet the needs of government, business and the people of Scotland.

School Estates Core Facts The timetable for Core Facts 2010 Q Assessment by the UK Statistics Authority; End March – form and guidance issued; April – census period: data collection and validation; End June – data returned to ScotXed; End August – data validated and uploaded by ScotXed; September – School Estate Statistics 2010 published Things to watch out for……………… ScotXed validation (don’t delete!), PPP issues (completed in last financial year); occupation dates (if available); financial & utility costs (£000’s); make use of the comments box!

Discussion Questions Why are these data being collected? Who signs these data off? Are these data fit for purpose? How good does the data need to be? Solutions and next steps? Quality Assurance of Management Information for Statistical Data The source of the vast majority of data used in education and social care statistical publications and analyses is the Management Information gathered by schools and Local Authorities. The quality of this MI data therefore directly impacts on the products and analyses produced by local and central government.

School Estates Core Facts Core Facts contacts: James Boyce Pupil and School Statistics Gerald Donnelly ScotXed