Scotland’s education secretary, Jenny Gilruth, often references the “plethora of different reports” on her desk.

In recent years Scotland has received advice from experts on how to improve the implementation of its curriculum; how to take forward reform of key education bodies; and how to reform assessment and qualifications in the “senior phase” of secondary school.

And now it has been revealed, through a freedom of information request, that the total bill for six of the recent reviews of Scottish education totals almost £1 million – from Professor Mark Priestley’s rapid review of the 2020 results debacle to Professor Louise Hayward’s review of assessment and qualifications, published in June.

Here is the breakdown:

£30,781 – National Qualifications Experience 2020: rapid review, published in October 2020 and conducted by Professor Priestley.

£370,356 – Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence: into the future was published in June 2021 and Upper-secondary Education Student Assessment in Scotland: a comparative perspective was published in August 2021. Both reports were conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).