Public Audit Committee
Scotland's colleges 2020: Additional information from the Scottish Government
Letter to Convener from Joe Griffin, Director-General Education and Justice, Scottish Government, 29 October 2021
Dear Convenor,
Thank you for your letter of 1 October on behalf of the Public Audit Committee. You are seeking further information resulting from the Committee’s session on 23 September on Scotland’s Colleges 2020. I hope the following is of assistance.
First, in respect of long-term financial planning, you rightly mention the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) publication on Coherence and Sustainability: A Review of Tertiary Education (the Review) (http://www.sfc.ac.uk/web/FILES/Review/coherence-and-sustainability.pdf). The Review's final report marked an important milestone and, following our recent response to the report (https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-governments-response-scottish-funding-councils-review-tertiary-education-research-scotland/documents/), we will work with the SFC and stakeholders on the implementation of the recommendations. As they develop themes from the Review, SFC will work with the sector to intensify collaborative working, and shared approaches to accelerate the delivery of good outcomes for students, employers, and regional economies, as well as ways of securing institutional sustainability. You will wish to note that, alongside the Review’s final report, the SFC also published a report on the financial sustainability of colleges and universities at http://www.sfc.ac.uk/web/FILES/Review/coherence-and-sustainability-financial-sustainability-of-colleges-and-universities.pdf
In relation to the recommendation that “the Scottish Government enables SFC to provide more certainty for our investments, beyond one year,” you will know that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy is giving consideration to publishing a framework for the Resource Spending Review to a similar timetable as the Scottish Budget which is being published on 9 December. The framework should provide the catalyst to explore multi-year options for resource funding, including in this area. In addition the UK Government has now set out multi-year spending plans which will help inform this planning for future Scottish budgets. The Scottish Government also set out a five year Capital Spending Review earlier this year.
Within this context Ministers will, as in any budget, consider the optimum way to allocate resources across the portfolio to meet needs and priorities across the education system, taking into account of the range of stakeholders’ views when considering the allocation of available resources across the portfolio. This will, of course, include Colleges Scotland who, we understand, will provide a budget submission for consideration.
You have asked for my view on the potential inequity of funding between school and college students. As you know, we are investing around £1.9bn a year in our colleges and universities. We have provided more than £240m in additional support for colleges, universities and students to deal with Covid and are providing additional FE and HE places to address issues with alternatives to exams. In recent years, colleges have been allocated considerable additional support to assist with national bargaining and pay harmonisation. Additionally, figures comparing the public investment in schools, colleges and universities should be treated with some caution. SFC has explored some of the figures reported externally, and observe that these do not, for example, always include SAAS tuition fees. Colleges and universities will also seek to make their own decisions to operate efficiently and deliver a quality of experience to students. However, I think it is an interesting point that merits further examination and I am happy to commit the Government to further work to analyse the evidence for a potential discrepancy, any reasons for why that might exist, and whether that implies the need for additional action above and beyond what I have already set out above.
You also asked about the work the Scottish Government is undertaking to ensure the college sector, and its students, are well placed to meet the needs of businesses to support economic recovery.
As a direct response to the pandemic, the National Transition Training Fund (NTTF) was established in October 2020, providing upskilling and retraining opportunities to individuals at risk of unemployment. This year the NTTF has been given a broader role in supporting recovery, addressing the impact of Brexit, and responding to future skills challenges including the transition to net zero. Colleges have, and continue to play, a central role in the delivery of NTTF funded courses and have demonstrated agility, collaboration and innovation, in ensuring training is in place to meet the needs of individuals and to support the hardest hit sectors.
In terms of future workforce planning to ensure a pipeline of skilled workers to meet the needs of the labour market, we are working, through SDS and the SFC, with colleges on the delivery of work-based learning programmes and provision of support for upskilling and reskilling. In addition to the NTTF, this includes delivery of Modern Apprenticeships and Foundation Apprenticeships, which from 2021-22 are principally being delivered directly through Scotland’s colleges. Colleges are also the main provider of upskilling through our Flexible Workforce Development Fund.
Alongside this we continue to work with Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and the SFC to strengthen alignment between skills provision and the needs of learners, employers and industry. As set out in the SFC Review (pages 39-40) a regional pathfinder is under development which will involve a range of partners, including colleges and other institutions as well as regional economic development partnerships. The work is overseen by the Skills Alignment Assurance Group co-chaired by Nora Senior, the Chair of the Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board (ESSB) and my colleagues, the Directors of Advanced Learning and Science, and Fair Work, Employability and Skills.
The Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP), published by Scottish Government and SDS in December 2020 sets out a clear direction for the reorientation of our skills system and the actions needed over the next five years, to 2025, to support the transformational change required across the economy and society to achieve net zero by 2045. Progress in implementing the actions set out in this Action Plan is being overseen by a Scottish Government and SDS led Implementation Steering Group (ISG), chaired by Professor Dave Reay of Edinburgh University with representation from the SFC and Scotland’s Colleges through the Energy Skills Partnership.
We have committed, through the Covid Recovery Strategy to review and strengthen our support for lifelong learning to ensure it is commensurate with the challenges facing the labour market and targeted on those who need our support the most. We will accelerate this work in 2021-22 by reviewing the performance of our existing skills investments, including independently evaluating both our Flexible Workforce Development Fund and Individual Training Accounts programmes, ensuring our services remain responsive to the people using them and to the evolving labour market. We will be working closely with SDS, SFC and other partners to develop this work over the coming months.
I hope this is helpful but please let me know if further clarification is required.
Yours sincerely
Joe Griffin