Skills, Enhancement, Access and Learning Committee

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Advising SFC on matters relating to skills, access and quality, the Skills, Enhancement, Access and Learning (SEAL) Committee is committed to enhancing the student learning experience in Scotland’s colleges and universities.

Membership and Meetings

Committee Membership

SFC Board

External members

Donella Beaton
Vice Principal, Economic Development, Robert Gordon University
Anne Campbell
Vice Principal – Curriculum, Ayrshire College
Ellie Gomersall
NUS Scotland President, NUS Scotland
Helyn Gould
Deputy, Associate Principal, University of Strathclyde
Professor Kevin Kelman
Director of NHS Scotland Academy, Learning and Innovation, NHS Education for Scotland (NES)
Gordon McGuinness
Director of Industries & Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland

Committee Clerk

Nick Stansfeld
email: nstansfeld@sfc.ac.uk.

Next Meeting Dates

1 October 2024
28 January 2025
8 May 2025
4 November 2025

Standing Orders

Legislation and Background

The Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 established the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council. Schedule 1 of the Act makes provision for certain administrative and other matters with respect to the Board, including the establishment of Committees.
Schedule 1 states that:

The Board may establish committees for any purpose relating to its functions [section 13].
The Board is to determine the composition of its committees, the terms and conditions of committee membership and the procedure (including any quorum) of its committees [section 14 (1)].
Any of the committees of the Board may include persons who are not members of the Board [section 14 (2)].
The Board is to pay the members of its committees (whether or not they are also members of the Board) such allowances as the Scottish Ministers may determine [section 14 (3)].
The Board is to keep under review the structure of its committee and the scope of the activities of each [section 14 (4)].

Schedule 1 also states that the Board may authorise any of its committees to exercise such of its functions to such an extent as it may determine [section 15 (1)]. Delegated authority for each committee is contained in the remit for each committee as agreed by the Board.
Schedule 1 of the Act makes provision for two policy committees, now called:

Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee (RKEC).
Skills, Enhancement, Access and Learning (SEAL) Committee.

The SEAL Committee, formed in October 2020, stemmed from the Learning Enhancement and Skills Committee to acknowledge the changing policy context and to support the SFC Review of Coherent Provision and Sustainability.

Remit of the SEAL Committee

The Skills, Enhancement, Access and Learning (SEAL) Committee is committed to enhancing the student learning experience in Scotland’s colleges and universities.
The Committee has a role to recommend and advise SFC on matters relating to skills, access and quality. This includes the development and strengthening of the student and employer experience of the tertiary education system, with broad areas of advice including but not limited to:

The student lived experience including learning and teaching pedagogy and quality and how learners’ access, complete and progress through and from tertiary education. This should include understanding of the range of learners – and how their experiences are being protected and enhanced – within our tertiary education system.
The maximisation of the tertiary sector’s impact on the economy, including the coherence of SFC funded provision, the development of strategic and impactful partnerships with employers across the education and skills system and work to address employers’ and learner needs.
Providing advice on the future development of the tertiary education system by understanding and being alerted to changing student expectations and needs and future societal and economic issues. This should include learning from policy and system development elsewhere in the UK and globally.

Membership of the SEAL Committee

As set out in the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) 2005 Act, membership of the committee will be determined by the Board.
Board Committees must have Board representation. The Chair, who will be determined by the Board, will be a Board member but not the Chair of the Board.
The Chief Executive, although a member of the Board, will not normally be a member of any committee.
The SEAL Committee will have other committee members who are not members of the Board. These will be referred to as “external members”; and the Scottish Government’s guidelines for appointing members should be followed in their selection. In addition, guidelines established by the Remuneration and Nominations Committee should also be followed.
A Board member’s term of office on a committee will run concurrently with their Council Board term of office. Each external member will be appointed initially for a period of three years, with the possibility of serving for a further three year period thereafter. Where appropriate, periods of reappointment will be staggered to ensure some continuity of membership.
On the expiry of a period of appointment of an external member, that member may be invited to serve for a single further period not exceeding three years. Where appropriate, periods of reappointment will be staggered to ensure some continuity of membership.
An external member may by giving notice in writing to the Chair of the committee resign as a member of a committee. A Board member may by giving notice in writing to the Chair of the Board resign as a member of a committee.
If the Chair of the committee and the Chair of the Board are satisfied that a member’s attendance at meetings has been unsatisfactory or that the member is otherwise unable or unfit to discharge the functions of a member, they may by giving notice in writing to the member remove that person from the committee.
The Chair of the SEAL Committee will be a member (but not the Chair) of the Board and include at least four other Board members and up to 10 external members.
The target membership profile includes members with the following key skill sets. A full SEAL Committee will consist of a Chair, who will also be a Council Board member, and up to 14 members including:

Other Board members with expertise relevant to the Committee.
Education professionals and influential leaders from Scotland, the UK and overseas, including those in the Senior phase in schools and tertiary education.
Employers and/or Skills experts, with knowledge of skill gaps and opportunities for growth.
Student leaders and/or staff leaders who support students including those involved in Student Representation and/or Student Engagement in an institution.
Leaders from membership organisations that represent pupils, students and/or employers.
Visionary specialists in delivering learning particularly in relation to the blend of online and in person approaches.
Access and inclusion professionals with skills and knowledge in the strategic promotion and successful delivery of fair access, equality, and inclusion.

There will also be regard to equalities issues in the membership composition.
The Board will review this target membership profile periodically to ensure that it is still appropriate.

Proceedings of the SEAL Committee

Committee members should observe the same rules as those set out under the Code of Conduct for SFC Board members[1].
The validity of any proceedings of the SEAL Committee is not affected by a vacancy in membership or by any defect in the appointment of a member.

Quorum

The quorum for a SEAL Committee meeting is one more than half the membership, and this must include at least one Board member. However, when not quorate the members present may decide to proceed with a meeting at which items on the agenda are considered and any recommendations reached are put to the next Committee meeting for decision if time allows or otherwise are put to Board for decision, with a clear statement that the meeting had not been quorate.

Role of the Chair in Committee Meetings

It is the role of the Chair to see that Committee business is conducted in an orderly fashion and to ensure that members obtain a fair hearing. Members wishing to speak shall do so through the Chair.
The Chair is also responsible for leading the meeting to reach decisions. The Committee will normally make decisions on the basis of agreement by consensus, but where the Chair believes it to be in the interest of the progress of a debate, or where it is proposed and seconded by two members present, the Clerk may be asked to count and record a vote by a show of hands.
As set out in the SFC’s Scheme of Delegation, generally committees are expected to take matters as far as appropriate before making recommendations to the Board. The Chair of the Committee will normally have responsibility for judging when it is appropriate to make recommendations to Board: where items are routine, they will stay with the Committee until the final stage of decision-making; and where items are novel, unusual or potentially contentious, proposals should be considered by Board at an earlier stage.

Collective responsibility

Committee members should be encouraged to express any differing views within the Committee’s internal decision-making process. If a member has a reservation regarding a particular decision, they may ask for their dissent to be formally recorded in the minute. Once a decision has been reached, all members should support it.

Nomination of a Vice-Chair

The Chair may nominate a Vice-Chair to act as deputy in the absence of the Chair at Committee meetings. This nomination will be subject to the approval of the Committee.

Clerk to the Committee

The Clerk to the Committee will advise the Chair on the conduct of Committee business and agenda planning. The Clerk will also advise Committee members on formal matters relating to the Committee.

Register of Interest

All members are required to complete a register of interests on appointment (Board members complete this form on appointment to the Board) and must notify the Clerk when any changes to this need to be made. Members’ registers of interests will be made publicly available on the Scottish Funding Council website.
If any member has, or could be perceived to have, an interest in a matter that is being considered by the Committee, then it is their duty to declare that interest at the start of the meeting or as soon as they become aware of it, whether or not that interest has already been recorded in their register of interests. This declaration will be recorded in the minutes by the Clerk. As set out in the Board Code of Conduct, members will not remain in the meeting nor participate in any way in those parts of meetings where they have declared an interest.
Whilst individual members have a responsibility to consider their position with regard to any registration conflict of interest, prior to the meeting the Clerk will consider the agenda in the context of the register of members’ interests and advise the Chair accordingly.

Attendance at Meetings

Meetings will normally be attended by SFC’s Director of Access, Learning and Outcomes.
In addition, other members of SFC’s staff may attend meetings as required for agenda items for which they are presenting information, to be available to respond to questions on matters arising from papers, to hear the debate where the Committee’s discussion will inform their work, or as part of their on-going professional development. They may not take part in Committee decisions.
Attendees may have a role in introducing papers, providing clarification, and contributing to discussions, but may not take part in Committee decisions.
As set out in the legislation, a representative of Scottish Ministers is entitled to participate in any deliberations (but not in decisions) of any committee of the Board [section 16 of Schedule 1].

External members

External members will receive copies of papers that do not contain commercially sensitive and/or confidential information. External members will be asked to leave the meeting for agenda items which relate to commercially sensitive and/or confidential information.

Observers

Any member of the Board has the right to attend committee meetings as an observer by agreement with the Chair of the Committee.
External observers may be invited to attend committee meetings at the discretion of the Chair of the Committee. External observers invited to be in attendance will receive copies of papers that do not contain commercially sensitive and/or confidential information. Observers will be asked to leave the meeting for agenda items which relate to commercially sensitive and/or confidential items.
Observers are encouraged to take part in discussions, but may not take part in decisions.

Timing of Meetings

Scheduled (or ordinary) meetings

The Committee will meet on an appropriate number of occasions in a year to carry out its duties effectively.
The schedule of meetings for each year will be agreed by the Committee in the previous year, following consultation with the Chair by the Clerk and taking into account the dates of Board meetings.

Extra (or special) meetings

The Chair may convene additional meetings as they deem necessary.
The Committee may agree to delegate to a sub-group responsibility for a particular matter. The sub-group would then report back to the Committee.

Agenda and papers

Agenda items

Any member can, by contacting the Clerk to the Committee, suggest items of business. The agenda and designation of business will be decided by the Chair.
Items for endorsement or for noting will be starred (*) on the agenda and the Chair will ask at the start of the meeting whether members wish to discuss any of the starred items. (Members should notify the Clerk to the Committee of this wish in advance of the meeting.) Unless members specifically ask to discuss these items, the Chair will assume that they have been endorsed or noted.

Distribution of agenda and papers

The agenda of business and accompanying papers will normally be distributed no later than one week before a scheduled meeting of the Committee.

Freedom of Information

Disclosable papers will be made available on request.

Disclosure status

In some cases, particular documents may be subject to disclosure exemptions under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Where this applies, the particular exemption(s) will be stated.
The Committee will decide at the meeting which of its papers, if any, will be non-disclosable or disclosable in edited form.

Approval of minutes of Committee meetings

Minutes of a Committee meeting will be submitted to the Chair for preliminary approval, and thereafter to the subsequent meeting of the Committee for formal approval.

Reporting to the Board

The approved minutes of each Committee meeting will be reported to the Board at the next scheduled Board meeting for noting.
At each Board meeting there will be the opportunity for the Chair to raise orally matters that they think the Board needs to be aware of.

Review

The committee remit and membership will be reviewed annually and proposed changes submitted to the Board for approval. The Committee will also conduct an annual self-evaluation and report the outcomes to the Board.

[1] Our governance – Scottish Funding Council (sfc.ac.uk)