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The free offer of offline desktop applications for Office 365 was intended for personal and home use. The vast majority of local authorities have not relied on this for school-based devices. In all cases, local authorities have in place, or are putting in place, alternative arrangements which afford access to the desktop version of Office products in schools and on council-issued devices.

Microsoft announced global changes to their licences in August 2023. At that time, Education Scotland took lead responsibility for communicating this change to all local authorities via their nominated Glow Key Contact, given that the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education rests with local authorities in Scotland. Education Scotland has undertaken a survey and engaged directly with each local authority throughout the past year as appropriate. All local authorities have confirmed their position, and all have either already implemented their plans for mitigations or are in the process of doing so.

Education Scotland and the Scottish Government have been in regular and direct contact with Microsoft officials since the global changes were announced by Microsoft to their services in August 2023. That engagement has primarily focused on wider changes to tenancy storage limits under the A1 Licence which is the subject of our existing contract with Microsoft. It is as a result of this direct and prolonged engagement throughout the past year that Microsoft have agreed that the Glow Microsoft tenancy will not be subject to this restriction to storage limits during our contract term.

Local authorities are responsible for communicating any Glow service changes to their staff. Education Scotland made local authorities aware of this global change announced by Microsoft at the Glow Key Contacts meeting in August 2023, which is the primary conduit between Education Scotland and local authorities for information sharing and engagement regarding Glow. Changes have been discussed at a number of subsequent meetings and Education Scotland issued formal email communications on this topic to this group in October 2023, January 2024, March 2024, and June 2024, as well as publishing detailed guidance on Glow Connect. Education Scotland has also undertaken a survey to assess impact.

The 2023-24 Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels statistics will be published in December 2024. In line with the Code of Practice for Statistics an exact date will be announced on the Scottish Government website at least four weeks before publication.

Microsoft tools remain available through the web-based versions in Glow to all learners and teachers. These are available on any internet-connected device and at any time.

This global change implemented by Microsoft change only pertains to Microsoft Office desktop apps. Schools, learners and teachers can continue to access web-versions of Microsoft Office products through Glow. Ultimately, local authorities are responsible for the provision of education, including any digital provision they consider appropriate for their schools and particularly where it is required for specific courses or individual needs.

The A1 licence in Glow remains in place and will continue to provide access to the web-based version of Microsoft Office until our contract end-date in September 2027. The Scottish Government has commissioned Education Scotland to undertake a review of needs for any national digital provision in the future.

Scottish Government was made aware of the proposed changes when Microsoft announced them in August 2023. Local authorities were made aware by the Scottish Government in August 2023.

The withdrawal of Office 365 A1 Plus by Microsoft will not impact storage. This withdrawal relates only to the offer to download Office desktop applications for personal use.