09:30
The purpose of agenda item 2, on future business, is to allow us to highlight our plans for the consideration of recent reports by the Auditor General for Scotland. On 17 September, we will take evidence from the Auditor General on his “Post-school education and skills reform” report. On 24 September, we will take evidence from Audit Scotland on “The National Fraud Initiative in Scotland 2026” report and then from the Auditor General on his “Scotland’s colleges 2026” report, which was published earlier this morning.
Before we move on to item 3, I invite the Auditor General to say a few words about his new report on Scotland’s college sector.
Good morning. As the convener noted, this morning we published a report on Scotland’s college sector, which is an annual report that Audit Scotland produces on the finance and performance of Scotland’s colleges.
The report’s main headline is that there continue to be financial challenges in Scotland’s colleges. In some colleges, the financial challenges are increasing to the extent that they require financial support from the Scottish Funding Council during the year. The collective deficit across the sector has increased to £5.6 million.
We also note that the recommendations that we made in previous years for increased clarity about what is expected of the sector have not yet been implemented. We have not repeated those recommendations, but we refer back to the recommendation that there needs to be increased pace from the Scottish Government and its partners so that the sector has a much clearer idea of what is expected of it in the immediate future and in the years to come, particularly in the context of some of the wider considerations around public service reform.
I am happy to answer any questions that the committee might have about the report’s headline, but I look forward to briefing the committee with more detail in the coming weeks.
Thank you, Auditor General. Colleges clearly play a key role in supporting our constituents and our economy, and they provide learning opportunities and meet the skills needs of employers.
Your report was published only this morning, so we will scrutinise it fully in due course, but my initial reaction is that it includes some stark figures that we will want to explore further. For example, there has been a 7.5 per cent real-terms reduction in funding for the college sector, and the student head count has reduced by 16 per cent, which means that one in six students who would have been learning, upskilling and contributing are now unable to do so. Student enrolments are at their lowest level in 10 years. There is also the impact of 282 staff taking voluntary redundancy in 2024-25 and the impact that a reduction in courses will have on rural students, who will have to travel further in order to access courses. In addition, as you mentioned, there is the £5.6 million overspend, which has led to the Scottish Funding Council providing cash advances.
We will want to explore all those issues and many more when we take evidence from you on 24 September, and we look forward to doing so.