Enterprise and Culture Committee, 02 Sep 2003

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 2, 2003

Official Report 176KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Education (Student Loans) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2003 (SSI 2003/285)

Under item 2, we have two items of subordinate legislation to consider under the negative procedure. The first of those is the Education (Student Loans) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2003. Chris Graham is here to say a few words about the instrument.

The legislation is quite simple. It allows for the amounts of loans that are paid under the previously available mortgage-style student loans system to be uprated on the same rates as student support generally has been already this year.

All that we have to do is decide whether we want to make any comment on the regulations in our report to the Parliament. I take it that, in view of the lack of questions, we do not want to make any such comment.

Members indicated agreement.

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Stevenson College (Change of Name) (Scotland) Order 2003 (SSI 2003/297)

The second instrument we have to consider is the Stevenson College (Change of Name) (Scotland) Order 2003. We have in front of us George Reid—no relation to the Presiding Officer—who wishes to say a few words on the order.

I am occasionally confused with, but am no relation to, the Presiding Officer.

I thought that it would be useful to the committee if I gave some background to the order and commented on the two points that your colleagues on the Subordinate Legislation Committee have drawn to your attention, which are referred to in paper EC S2/03/02/2.

Stevenson College's board of management thinks that the inclusion of "Edinburgh" in its name would avoid some of the difficulties that have been reported in identifying the college's location. The committee will be aware that there is a town called Stevenston in North Ayrshire. There is also a Stephenson College at Coalville in Leicestershire.

Of equal importance to the college's board is that it feels that the name "Stevenson College Edinburgh" would help to raise the college's profile at UK level and internationally. These days, further education colleges operate on a range of fronts. Their primary purpose is and probably always will be the provision of skills—non-advanced vocational education—for the communities that they serve. However, colleges are now developing specialisms and expertise that attract students from further afield, including from overseas. Stevenson College has more than 1,000 international students each year from some 100 countries. On its client relationships, I understand that the college has worked with a number of organisations overseas, including in South Africa and the Czech Republic.

That is the background to the order. I will address the two points that the Subordinate Legislation Committee has drawn to the committee's attention. The Subordinate Legislation Committee's view was that the explanatory note attached to the order did not give a full indication of why the order was necessary. In essence, the order's underlying aim is to assist the college to do better what it does at present by clarifying its identity and profile and introducing a formal link to its Edinburgh location. The Scottish Executive took the view that the order's intention was fairly self-explanatory and straightforward—we are simply adding a word to the college's name—and no discourtesy was intended. I hope that the background that I have given has covered the main reasons why we seek to support the college by making the change.

Secondly, the Subordinate Legislation Committee wondered why it was necessary to use "(Scotland)" in the order's title. The Executive responded to the Subordinate Legislation Committee and pointed out that, if we did not use the term "(Scotland)", the order would not necessarily disclose a Scottish connection. I note from the comments in paper EC S2/03/02/2 that the Subordinate Legislation Committee has advised this committee that it considers the inclusion of "(Scotland)" in the order's title as guarding

"against there being another similarly named college in the UK."

That corresponds exactly with the Executive's view.

I hope that the committee finds those comments helpful in explaining the background to the order and clarifying the points that your colleagues on the Subordinate Legislation Committee raised. If members have any questions, I will be happy to answer them.

As none of the committee members, other than Christine May, is a member of the Subordinate Legislation Committee, perhaps Christine might wish to comment.

The Subordinate Legislation Committee's views are reflected accurately in the paper. I recall the debate, and although it might seem academic—if that is not too much of a pun—the situation can be confusing, when internet searches are being conducted for establishments, if people are not sure of the spelling, if they are overseas students or academics, or if they are not familiar with a country's geography, for example.

The first point is that the explanatory note gives no real information—the Subordinate Legislation Committee has raised issues about the amount of information that is contained in explanatory notes, which is a matter for us to take up with the Executive. As for the second point, I think that the inclusion of "(Scotland)" helps.

I will comment briefly. I echo Christine May's comment that the issue is not just academic. I support the proposal, which has substantive reasons for being important. In a former life, I was involved in a debate about naming a significant part of a significant higher education institution in this fair city, which centred on the need to have the city's name in the name of the establishment, for the reasons that have been mentioned. In these days of the internet, and when colleges and universities have international connections, such information is important. I am happy to support the change.

I take it from those comments that members want our report to the Parliament to say that we make no comment on the instrument.

Members indicated agreement.

I thank Mr Reid for appearing.