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CHAPTER 8: AWARENESS OF CHANGES TO INFORMATION, ADVICE AND GUIDANCE PRODUCED BY THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

8.1 Given that this study was conducted in order to evaluate the effectiveness of recent changes introduced to improve the quality and consistency of IAG on funding for learners, this chapter examines respondents' knowledge and understanding of various recent changes to Scottish Executive IAG on funding for learners and potential learners.

8.2 Towards the end of the telephone interviews, all respondents were asked whether they were aware that changes were made in 2005 to improve the Information, Advice and Guidance on funding for adult learners.

8.3 As can be seen in table 8.1, just over a quarter (27%) of all interviewees were aware of the changes, with the highest levels of awareness of these changes being among universities/colleges (54%), Learndirect Scotland (36%) and Broader Advisory Groups (33%). Lowest levels of awareness were from secondary schools (13%) and those from the community/voluntary sector (19%).

Table 8.1
Awareness of changes in 2005 to Scottish Executive IAG

Source: Q26a
Base: All respondents

8.4 There was little by way of differences in awareness among organisations according to their size, but those with less than five queries a month had lower levels of awareness (20%) than those with 5 to 25 (33%) or more (34%) queries.

8.5 All interviewees who were aware of the 2005 changes were asked whether they felt the changes had made IAG better, worse or if it had stayed the same, as detailed in chart 8.1.

8.6 While awareness of the changes was relatively low, over half (54%) of those respondents who were aware of any changes felt that they had been for the better and 24% of respondents felt that things had stayed the same. Only 1% of respondents felt that these changes had made it worse, although 22% of respondents did not provide an answer to this question.

Chart 8.1
Opinion on changes made to IAG funding

8.7 Again, there was little by way of differences between organisations in terms of number of employees or the number of queries dealt with each month, although slightly higher proportions of those with more than 25 queries a month felt that changes had been for the better than those with 11-25 queries or 10 or fewer (61% compared to 55% and 49% respectively).

8.8 All those who said that the Scottish Executive changes in 2005 had been for the better were asked to state why they felt that was the case. A wide range of reasons were provided, although only key reasons are provided in chart 8.2.

8.9 The main reasons given by respondents related to wider availability of information, with 31% saying information was now more readily available, 9% that it was available to more people and a further 9% that there is more information available. In addition, 19% felt that there was now increased awareness among people about the possibilities of funding.

8.10 In terms of the information itself, 8% of respondents felt that this was more up-to-date and 7% that it is clearer.

Chart 8.2
Reasons for changes being for the better

8.11 The one respondent who felt that the changes made in 2005 had resulted in things being worse referred to the fact that their team getting bigger had resulted in losing rapport within the team and that they were now too busy.

8.12 In summary,

• Only just over one in four (27%) intermediaries were aware of changes made in 2005 to Scottish Executive IAG, although a slight majority (54%) of these felt that changes were for the better (22% were unable to provide commentary on whether this had improved IAG).
• Key reasons for this improvement were that information was more readily available and that it had helped to increase awareness of funding possibilities.

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