Chamber and committees

Just so that I get my head around it, because I am not an Edinburgh MSP, currently you have the supercomputer and the infrastructure and everything else, but with the advances in technology and AI—we all use it now in various forms—being apparent, you need to go to the next generation. That is what you explained earlier, more or less, it seems to me. You have not heard this today much, Sir Peter, but I am quite happy to back you in your endeavours and support you in any way I can to ensure that that goes to Edinburgh.

Finally, I want to ask a question of Sir Peter. I will not ask you about your salary, because that has been done to death today. I was going to, but we have talked about that quite a bit.

I have been on this committee—people are fed up with hearing me saying this—on and off since I first entered the Parliament in 2011. During the independence referendum campaign, I kept getting told that, if we got independence, universities such as Edinburgh might lose a whole stack of investment in research, because you are one of the universities in the world that excel in research. The UK Government has cut one of your programmes: the £800 million supercomputer programme. What effect has that had on your university? I assume that that programme would have generated quite a bit of work for those in your establishment.

It is important for the record that we know that compulsory redundancies will be the very last option. As you will know, Professor Miller, when these things happen, we end up with all kinds of conspiracy theories and people believe that a lot more is going to happen.

I am interested in what you and Professor Rigby said about the funding shortfall with regard to the flexibility that you are looking at, because you both recruit from the colleges. For various reasons including Covid, there was a drop in the numbers. Professor Rigby, you talked about a better way of spending the money that is already there. I like the sound of that. Professor Miller, you talked about more flexible examples. Can you give us more detail on that? I am a great believer that, if there is money in the system, we should use it in the best way possible to deliver what we are trying to deliver.

Professor Rigby, do you have anything to say on better ways of spending the money that is available?

I am sorry to interrupt, but are you talking about the flexibility that James Miller spoke about? Might that involve having a conversation with the SFC and saying, “This is what happened in the past, but we think that we can do X, Y and Z in the future”?

Good morning. I understand the work that Professor Rigby and Professor Miller do with regard to nursing in particular. I have a daughter who was waiting for a place at UWS but decided to have two more children instead. She may be back at a later date.

Professor Miller, I usually talk about the virtues of UWS, all the great work that you do in the area and how important the institution is to Paisley in particular, but also to the areas that are served by your other campuses. However, I have to ask this question. Like Miles Briggs, I have had constituents and people who are employed by you coming to me and saying that you are looking at 75 full-time equivalent reductions with a cut of, I think, £6.2 million. You are going through a 45-day consultation and you have not ruled out compulsory redundancies. There has been, almost, a perfect storm since you came in the door at UWS.

How has UWS got to this position? What are the main things that have contributed to it? How do we go forward from here? Many people, including the unions and people who work for you, have a lot of concern about what is going on.

I am not getting into the politics of it, because it was used as a big stick to hit me with in 2014, but we still seem to be in a difficult situation with the UK Government.

Can you understand the situation in Scotland? Radio Clyde was the first commercial station outwith London—I think that it started in 1970—and that created a whole generation of broadcasters and talent who probably would not otherwise have had that career and opportunity. For young people trying to get into broadcasting, radio was often used as a way in, but that will not happen in Scotland any more. It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for someone to do that.

I am extremely interested in that, because that proves that there is a market. STV is doing that from an advertising point of view. The chief executive has said that it allows advertising throughout the day. Mornings on the radio are very good for advertisers, and they can be on television in the evening. However, that is not what we hear from local radio stations as they network more and more—they say that they cannot sustain that. That is the argument. Why would a major player such as STV say that it is doable when we get a completely different story from local stations? As the regulator, what have you done? You are part of the reason why we do not have Scottish voices on Scottish radio at the moment.

I have a couple, if that is okay.

Good morning. It will come as no shock to you that I welcome the £65 million for drama over the next three years, but why can we not have both? There is no way that you will replace a long-term serialised drama with six episodes of three shows. It will not be the same level of work or the same guarantee of work. We heard about that from members of the cast and technical staff. You will not create new technical staff and give writers and actors give their first opportunity. It just will not have the same effect.

Yes, television is changing, but we are not having this conversation about “EastEnders”, and its ratings have tanked over time. Why does it always seem to be that we in Scotland are the ones impacted? Why can we not have both? People will not be having this conversation at the BBC down in London.