Transparency data

Board minutes: 15 March 2023

Updated 31 July 2024

Applies to England

This document has been subject to redactions

Date

Wednesday 15 March 2023

Time and Venue

09:00 a.m. in Room 6017 and via TEAMS

Attendees

Board

Sir Ian Bauckham CBE, Chair

Susan Barratt

Hardip Begol CBE

Mark Farrar

Cindy Leslie

Dr Catherine McClellan

Eileen Milner

Clare Pelham

Dr Jo Saxton, Chief Regulator

Matt Tee

Frances Wadsworth CBE

Ofqual

David Bowden, Executive Director, Finance and Operations

Elaine Brewster, Director of Communications (Interim)

Richard Garrett, Director, Policy & Strategic Relationships GQ

Rebecca Goding, Director of Communications (Interim)

Daniel Gutteridge, General Counsel

Jo Handford, Associate Director, Strategy

Michael Hanton, Deputy Chief Regulator

Charlie Henning, Director, People and Culture

Cath Jadhav, Executive Director, Standards, Research and Analysis and Executive Director for GQ (Interim)

Catherine Large, OBE Executive Director, Vocational & Technical Qualifications

Dr Ian Stockford, Director, Strategic Projects

Also present

Senior Economist (Item 61/22)

Sian Blount, Associate Director of Policy & Strategic Relationships (Item 68/22)

Danielle Cartwright, Associate Director of Policy & Strategic Relationships (Item 65/22)

Stuart Cunningham, Associate Director of VTQ Programme Office (Item 64/22)

Senior Manager, Standards for DDE (Items 64/22 and 65/22)

Senior Commercial Manager (Item 69/22)

Senior Manager Strategy (Item 63/22)

Emma Scott, Director of Operations VTQ (Item 64/22)

Board Secretary

Senior Manager, Policy & Strategic Relationships (Item 65/22)

Lydia Waine, Director of Legal Affairs & Governance

Mary Webb, Head of Private Office

Emma Wild, Associate Director, Standards for DDE GQ (Items 64/22 and 65/22)

Private Secretary

55/22 Welcome and apologies for absence

Apologies were received from Chris Paterson.

56/22 Declarations of interest

There were no declarations of interest.

57/22 Minutes and matters arising

i. Approval of minutes

The Minutes of the Board meeting held on 07 December 2022 were approved.

ii. Matters arising from previous Board meetings

All other matters arising from previous meetings had been dealt with and were now closed.

iii. Reports and recommendations from Board committees

The Chairs of the People, Resources and Finance Committee and the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee gave a brief verbal update to the Board on the most recent Committee meetings.

iv. Nomination and approval of Board EDI sponsor

The Board was advised that a member of the People, Resources and Finance Committee should be nominated as the Board EDI Sponsor. This will be a 12-month appointment.

Mark Farrar was nominated and the Board endorsed his appointment as Board EDI Sponsor.

The Minutes from all previous Board Committee meetings that had taken place since the last Board meeting were received and noted.

58/22 Decisions taken by electronic business

The Board noted the following item of electronic business:

i. E06/22 Decoupling initial entries for Core Exam and Core Project Assessments with Technical Qualifications in T Levels - (approved 06 March 2023).

59/22 Chief Regulator’s report

The Board received an update from the Chief Regulator.

The Board was advised that plans are underway to ensure awarding organisations’ readiness for summer 2023.

The National Reference Test had taken place with a high number of schools taking part. The Board was advised the results will be compared to the baseline year of 2017.

A statement introducing three new deadlines for 2023 to ensure that awarding organisations issue complete and correct Level 3 vocational and technical qualifications (VTQ) results to students this summer will be published on 16 March 2023.

The Board congratulated Ofqual on its excellent results from the Civil Service People Survey 2022. The results show that Ofqual is joint 9th, out of 104 participating departments, for overall staff engagement and is the 4thhighest scoring department for inclusion and fair treatment. The survey results also show positive increases in all but two of the core themes surveyed.

The Chief Regulator and the Chair gave a brief overview of the symposium for Awarding Organisations that Ofqual had hosted on 14 March 2023. This had been very well received and both the Chief Regulator and Chair are content that our strategic focus on capability, capacity and governance is now clear to those who attended.

The Board was given an update on senior recruitment within Ofqual. The two interim Directors of Communications were introduced to the Board.

60/22 T Level update

The Board noted results from retakes were not significantly different to the summer results, albeit the retake cohort was very small, meaning that only limited conclusions could be drawn from the resit results.

The Board noted the status update on new and revised T Levels with several now being delayed until September 2024.

61/22 Regulatory burden statement

A substantive draft of the Regulatory burden statement for 2023 had been circulated to the Board before the meeting.

The Board noted last year’s statement had been well received and there was now more transparency and engagement. The section on co-regulation was welcomed by the Board.

RESOLVED

The Board agreed to:

i. Endorse the Regulatory burden statement 2023 presented, whilst acknowledging this as a substantive draft which is subject to final comments from external stakeholders.

ii. Delegate to the Chief Regulator and Chair final approval for publication of the Regulatory burden statement 2023 following any final amendments to the draft subsequent to external stakeholder review.

62/22 Finance

i. Finance update

The forecast prepared at 31 January 2023 indicates a full-year underspend of £412k against a forecast underspend of £182k at the end of December 2022. The Board was advised the sizeable movement in underspend was discussed fully at the People, Resources and Finance Committee where reassurance was given the final outturn underspend would fall within the acceptable 1% range required by HM Treasury.

The Board was verbally advised the month 11 results show an underspend of £384k which is on track.

ii. Budget 2023/24

The proposed budget for 2023-24 was presented to the Board, outlining the rigorous planning approach taken.

The Chair of the People, Resources and Finance Committee confirmed the budget had been thoroughly reviewed at the last meeting which had resulted in a minor drafting change to the budget. This had been further reviewed and endorsed by the Committee. The Chair confirmed the People, Resources and Finance Committee is comfortable with the direction of travel and with endorsing the budget to the Board. Close monitoring of the budget will continue.

RESOLVED

The Board resolved to:

i. Agree the draft budget as set out in paragraph 19 and supplemented by the spending plans contained in Annex A and Annex B.

ii. Approve the approach set out in paragraph 23 to managing the spend portfolio and mitigating the risk of both underspend and overspend throughout the year.

63/22 Strategic risk

The Board considered the Strategic Risk Register and levels of risk tolerance. The Board was advised the Audit & Risk Assurance Committee had reviewed the same at their last meeting in order to provide assurance, together with the annual review of the risk assurance map.

RESOLVED

The Board noted the changes in the Strategic Risk Register and endorsed the proposed risk tolerance for the new risk 11.

64/22 British Sign Language GCSE

The Board was advised that Ofqual is expecting to be able to recommend, in principle, that the DfE’s draft subject content for British Sign Language (BSL) be adopted into its regulatory framework following public consultation. Proposals for assessment of the DfE’s content have been developed and Ofqual will be recommending to consult publicly on the approaches to assessment in due course.

The Board noted that deadlines are very tight for proposed first teaching in September 2025 with specifications required 12 months in advance to allow teachers sufficient time to prepare. Ofqual is working towards publishing the regulatory requirements in autumn 2023. It was noted the timeline is dependent on there being no substantial changes required for the DfE’s draft subject content or the proposed assessment arrangements.

The Board was asked to approve the proposed governance recommendations and to delegate decisions to the Technical Committee.

RESOLVED

The Board agreed to delegate to the Technical Committee the decisions whether to:

i. Adopt the DfE’s subject content into Ofqual’s regulatory framework.

ii. Consult on proposed high-level assessment arrangements and, subsequently, proposed Conditions, Requirements and Guidance.

iii. Publish final Conditions, Requirements and Guidance which will include the DfE’s subject content.

65/22 A level Chinese

The Board was advised the DfE has identified some small changes they wish to make to the subject content for A level Chinese. This will have implications for the assessment arrangements and Ofqual propose to consult on modifying the requirement that only 10% of the total qualification marks can be for responses given in English.

It was noted the proposed changes are likely to also have implications for A level Japanese and Ofqual would consult on equivalent modifications if the DfE decide to change their subject content for that qualification.

RESOLVED

The Board agreed:

i. That Ofqual should consult on proposals to lift or modify the requirement for AS and A level Chinese qualifications (and AS and A level Japanese, if the DfE decide to change their subject content), that only 10% of the total qualification marks can be for responses in English.

ii. To delegate to the Chief Regulator and Chair, sign off for the detailed proposals and the consultation document(s) and decision(s).

66/22 Apprenticeship End Point Assessments

The Board was advised of the intention to bring to a close the EQA Transition Programme and to establish a steady state where Ofqual’s approach will move from external quality assurance to the regulation of Apprenticeship End Point Assessments.

The Board recognised the successful completion of this phase and the huge body of work undertaken in this process which will be to the benefit of apprentices.

The Board supported the overall regulatory approach proposed for Apprenticeship End Point Assessments going forward and acknowledged that funding is in place to carry this out.

RESOLVED

The Board approved the recommendations to:

i. Support the proposed regulatory approach to Apprenticeship End Point Assessments going forward.

ii. Close the transition programme and note the impact on and benefits to apprentices.

67/22 Long-term resilience arrangements

Following discussions around resilience arrangements to be put in place for September 2023 examinations, the Board had requested proposals for resilience arrangements in the longer term to be considered at a future meeting. The Board was advised that, following consultation on the 2023 resilience arrangements, two-thirds of respondents supported guidance being in place for the longer term.

The Board was advised consultation on retaining the guidance put in place for 2023 for General Qualifications (GQs) would require a joint consultation between Ofqual and the DfE. The proposed resilience arrangements are not intended to be used in the case of disruption to the delivery of exams, but rather an event like the pandemic which has such severe consequences for a significant number of students nationally. It will be made clear in the guidance that exams and other formal assessments must go ahead if at all possible.

The Board noted this guidance would cover GQs only as most VTQs are modular and have a high proportion of internal assessment. However, the Board was advised that Ofqual is considering putting in place ongoing regulatory requirements relating to resilience arrangements in the General Conditions of Recognition (GCR).This would require awarding organisations offering VTQs that are similar in nature to GQs to consider whether guidance on resilience arrangements would be needed for their qualifications and provide it to their centres. A consultation on any amendments to the GCR would be conducted by Ofqual and not jointly with the DfE.

RESOLVED

The Board approved the recommendations to:

i. Agree for Ofqual to jointly consult with the DfE on retaining the resilience arrangements put into place for 2023 in the long-term, reflecting the roles and responsibilities that both organisations have in this area.

ii. Agree that, subject to considering the views expressed through consultation, resilience arrangements are put into place for 2024 and retained on an on-going basis. This would be in the form of guidance for GQ centres on collecting evidence of student performance. The guidance will be based on that in place this year, updated as necessary based on experience of schools and colleges using it in 2023.

iii. Agree that the Board delegates to the Chief Regulator, in consultation with the Chair, all necessary decisions on the implementation of guidance for centres on gathering evidence to support resilience for general qualifications to be awarded from summer 2024 and beyond, subject to it being in line with the position set out in the Board paper. This extends to decisions in relation to the approach to consultation, the policy proposals for consultation and final policy decisions and the implementation of those decisions.

iv. Agree that the Board delegates to the Technical Committee any decisions on proposed amendments to the General Conditions of Recognition which are necessary in order to create coherence in the resilience approach across GQ and VTQ.

68/22 Equality objectives 2023-25

The Board discussed the two proposed Equality Objectives and noted they were based on the strategic priorities set out in the Corporate Plan following work to make equalities part of Ofqual’s approach to strategic planning and reporting. The Board recognised significant progress has been made in this area and welcomed the proposals.

The Board asked whether more details about the people strategy could be included under the second objective. The Board asked about work relating to the first objective to consider approaches to the regulation of innovative practices and technology. The Board emphasised the importance of accessible assessment for all students, including students with special educational needs and disabilities. The wording will be reviewed ahead of publication.

RESOLVED

The Board approved the proposed equality objectives for 2023 to 2025 for publication by 01 April 2023.

69/22 Award of Strategic Information Technology Delivery Partner contract

The Board was advised the current contract was due to reach the estimated spend cap by 31 March 2023 and therefore a re-tendering exercise was carried out via the CCS Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) framework to appoint a new supplier for two years from 01 April 2023. Following the evaluation of tenders, the contract was awarded to the current supplier Made Tech Limited.

RESOLVED

The Board agreed with the recommendations to:

i. Review the process set out by which the recommended supplier (Made Tech Limited) has been selected.

ii. Approve the award of the Strategic Information Technology Delivery Partner contract to Made Tech Limited in accordance with Ofqual’s Standing Financial Instructions (SFIs) in order that services can continue to be purchased once the current contract spend limit has been reached.

70/22 Publication of papers

The Board agreed to publish Open Papers.

71/22 Any other business

i. Appointment of Member to Enforcement Committee panel

The Chair nominated Susan Barratt to be appointed to the panel for the Enforcement Committee.

RESOLVED

The Board approved the appointment of Susan Barratt to the Enforcement Committee panel.

ii. End of term of office

The Chair advised the term of office for Dame Christine Ryan was ending on 31 March 2023 and this would therefore be her last meeting. The Chair warmly thanked Dame Christine for her contribution to the Board and Ofqual’s work during her two terms of office.

iii. Guidance on political engagement

It was agreed that election guidance for Civil Servants should be re-issued to all staff and Non-Executive Directors as manifestos for the next election are beginning to be drafted.

ACTION: EB/RG

iv. Next Board meeting

The next Board meeting will be held in Coventry on Wednesday 21 June 2023.

The meeting ended at 12:17 p.m.