Official Report 1072KB pdf
“Scotland’s colleges 2025”
To ask the Scottish Government what urgent action it will take to address the reported crisis in the college sector, in light of the findings in the Audit Scotland publication, “Scotland’s colleges 2025”.
I note the publication and I have read it carefully. As the First Minister made clear earlier, the Government is committed to ensuring that we invest in our college sector to support students to move on to positive destinations. However, the challenges that we face in managing our public finances have not in any way been helped by the austerity policies of successive UK Governments, the recent increases in employers’ national insurance contributions for Scotland’s colleges and across the public sector or the impact of energy bills and inflation on the operating costs of colleges.
Despite the challenging financial climate during the current financial year, the Scottish Government is investing more than three quarters of a billion pounds in our 24 colleges to support apprenticeships and a wide range of skills and qualifications. The most recent Scottish Funding Council allocations provided a 2.6 per cent increase in teaching funding for 2025-26 and an increase of almost 5 per cent in capital maintenance to help colleges to invest in the learning experience of students and in the skills that Scotland needs for the future, which is exactly what the Government and all Governments should be doing.
Excuses, excuses, excuses—blaming everybody and taking no responsibility for the decisions that the Government has made. That is typical of the Scottish National Party Government. We also had the First Minister in denial and almost writing off Audit Scotland’s report and not taking any notice of what it says.
The report says that college funding has been cut by 20 per cent in real terms since 2021-22. Seven colleges were in deficit last year, with two requiring bailouts, staff morale is collapsing and thousands of students are losing out on opportunities. Gavin Donoghue of Colleges Scotland warned that those cuts had
“directly led to less students and unsustainable cuts to staff numbers”,
crumbling estates and
“reductions in courses on offer.” [Interruption.]
Members can heckle all they like; I am repeating what Audit Scotland and Colleges Scotland have said, but that might not be good enough for some members.
Does the minister accept that cutting off access to college is hypocritical of the SNP Government? The Government is, in effect, kicking away the ladder out of poverty for thousands of young people. Will he commit to restoring funding so that colleges can play their full part in tackling inequality and creating equality of opportunity for all?
I record my appreciation and admiration for college staff, both in my capacity as an MSP representing my constituents and in my capacity as minister serving the people of Scotland as a whole. The Government and I strongly recognise the contribution that our colleges make to enabling people to fulfil their potential and improve their circumstances. That is why there was an increase in spending on our colleges of 2.6 per cent in this financial year.
The question of the public finances is challenging. No one is denying that. The First Minister emphasised it today, and I am emphasising it now. We are operating in an environment in which inflation costs went up in the years that are stated in the Audit Scotland report. I very much respect the report and will be carefully examining the recommendations, but we cannot ignore the fact that we are operating in an environment in which the Scottish budget has been cut for many years, and in which inflation has eroded the capacity of the budget to be utilised. It is an environment in which increased national insurance contributions have been imposed on the Scottish public sector without recourse to repayment of those from the United Kingdom Government. I met Colleges Scotland today, and I am looking forward to working with it constructively on the challenges that we face together and on ensuring that Scotland’s people are able to fulfil their potential, including through our colleges.
There is a great amount of interest in this item of business, but we must have more concise questions and responses, and we must hear one another.
If the minister, who I like—and who, by the way, has been badly served by whoever wrote his answers—has admiration for Colleges Scotland, why is the Government cutting college funding? That is not according to the Conservatives but according to Audit Scotland, whose honesty I greatly admire for bringing to light these facts. Audit Scotland is warning us that colleges are being forced to prioritise cheaper courses over costlier courses, which are the ones that are in demand by employers. Apprenticeship demand is going unmet.
Question!
Mr Stewart, I remind you that I am chairing this session. I have called for concise questions and responses. When questions and responses are exceptionally long, we will be unable to take any further questions from members.
Colleges Scotland makes it clear that a cut to college funding of a fifth is damaging life chances and shrinking the skills base on which Scotland’s economy depends. At a time when we need a highly skilled, future-proofed workforce to drive growth and prosperity, why is the Government funding colleges on the cheap? Why is the Government cutting funding? Will the minister admit that that failure is not only harming individual students and their families but actively sabotaging Scotland’s economic future?
A quarter of the way into the 21st century, we are living through a time of extreme economic change. We have huge economic potential to realise in Scotland. We are attracting in more direct investment, and our skills system is fundamental to that.
I have made it very clear since coming into post that, along with all my Scottish Government colleagues, we are committed to working with employers, colleges, universities, local government and wider Scottish society to realise the huge potential of our people. That involves making a 2.6 per cent increase in the college budget this year, but it also involves working with our college sector, which I met collaboratively today, on transformation and meeting the needs of our economy.
I look forward to reflecting on the recommendations in the Audit Scotland report, and working collaboratively with the SFC, Colleges Scotland and the wider sector to realise more of Scotland’s remarkable human potential. The Government is absolutely committed to investing in that potential.
I am delighted that some Conservative members have managed to stay in the chamber instead of running away in terror when I raise a point.
First, does the minister, like me, find it surprising that Audit Scotland’s report makes little mention of the impact of rising national insurance contributions—in the case of Forth Valley College, it is £600,000 a year straight on to the wage bill—the cost of living crisis or the continuing effects of Brexit? To what extent is he able to factor into the Government’s assessment of the financial sustainability of our colleges those extraneous but burdensome factors?
Keith Brown is right to emphasise that, although the Government continues to make the commitment and the investment that is available within its constrained budget—I talked earlier about the 2.6 per cent increase in revenue funding for our colleges—we operate in an external environment that constantly presents challenges. Whether it is the austerity that has been delivered since 2010, Brexit, the external circumstances of the pandemic, the Liz Truss budget or the current employer national insurance increase from the Labour Party, those things have an impact, and they matter. [Interruption.]
Let us hear the minister.
Rising national insurance contributions have added £11 million of extra cost on to our colleges. The Scottish Government is seeking to alleviate that by providing £5.5 million, but the actions of the UK Government absolutely matter in this situation. Unfortunately, it has added costs on to our public sector and is not helping us to move forward with economic growth.
It is important to remind members and those watching, particularly colleges and students, that the minister can reiterate the 2 per cent increase as often as he likes, but it is false. Audit Scotland has said that colleges have had a 20 per cent cut in the past five years.
I also remind the minister that the UK Government has given the Scottish Government the largest settlement since devolution, yet for years colleges have been sounding alarm bells and telling ministers that there is no coherence in the system or linking of provision of education to the jobs and skills that our economy needs, but the minister still blames other people. These vital institutions have been left without leadership from their Government and, in the vacuum, colleges have had to struggle on themselves. That is not how a national skills system is supposed to be run. If everyone else can see how valuable colleges really are, why can his Government not? What will he urgently do to prove to the colleges that he is not going to blame someone else and that he is going to take responsibility?
This Government and I take absolute responsibility for realising the potential of the Scottish people. That is why we have invested in them consistently, including by providing free tuition for years when it is not available elsewhere in these islands. Let me say very clearly, so that there is no doubt, that the Government values the contribution of everyone who works in our college sector. We recognise the huge economic and social contribution that all 24 of those institutions make. We look forward to working with them to support the offer that they provide to learners but also to think about the demands and needs of the 21st century as we move into its second quarter, so that we can realise the human potential in our communities and the huge economic potential of our country.
I very much welcome the minister to his new role, but I point out to him that a number of members across the chamber have written to him about the proposed closure of the Alloa campus of Forth Valley College—a move that would be devastating for the community. Will he commit to coming to Alloa to meet us, unions and others who are concerned about the closure, and to work on a cross-party basis to ensure that the college can remain open to serve the community for generations to come?
The member is right to raise the importance of the contribution of the Alloa campus of Forth Valley College to the local community and the wide social and economic benefits that it provides. As the First Minister made clear earlier, this Government will make sure that everything is done to keep the campus open so that students in the area have access to the first-rate services and learning that the college provides.
As has been stated to Parliament, the Scottish Funding Council is working incredibly closely with the college on those matters, and we will seek to keep members with a local interest and Parliament more widely informed as the SFC continues that engagement. I look forward to further engagement with the member, and I thank him for constructively bringing that important matter to the chamber.
It is vital that the Scottish Government works on increasing the positive destinations that are available to Scotland’s school leavers. Will the minister speak further on that progress, as well as on the role that colleges play in fulfilling our young people’s potential?
I thank Paul McLennan for giving me the opportunity to emphasise the importance of colleges in supporting people in their learning journeys and making sure that we fulfil the skills need in our economy. The geographic differentiation of that skills need will become even more important in the period ahead. I look forward to engaging with the member and all those who have an interest in expanding and enhancing the offer appropriately for the need in their communities, and to working with local authorities, members and the bodies involved.
We have huge potential; there is great learning, and tens of thousands of our young and older people are achieving well through our colleges. I look forward to continuing to support our colleges by working with Colleges Scotland and individual institutions.
Have Mr Kerr and the Conservatives, or even Pam Duncan-Glancy and Labour, suggested to the minister where the extra money that they want to give to colleges should come from? Does the minister think that they want to cut funding from the national health service? Do they want to cut funding from universities? Do they want to raise tax?
Mr Macpherson should answer in relation to the substantive question.
I will make an important broader point. In the Parliament, we all have a shared interest in representing our constituents in the best way possible, and we all have a shared responsibility to debate the choices before us seriously and in the wider context in which we have to operate. As we go into an important budget period, whether we are discussing college funding or other matters, we need to have seriousness across the chamber, as well as creative ideas and collaboration. My ministerial colleagues and I have a doors-open policy for hearing ideas, and I look forward to members thinking creatively and responsibly in the period ahead.
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