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The next item of business is consideration of motion S7M-01088, in the name of First Minister John Swinney, on the appointment of a junior Scottish minister. I remind members that, under rule 11.3.1 of standing orders, the question on the motion will be put immediately after the debate. Members who wish to speak should please press their request-to-speak button now. I call John Swinney to speak to and move the motion.
15:01
I am pleased to nominate Alyn Smith as Minister for Innovation, Technology and Tertiary Education.
Before I turn to the appointment, let me thank Ben Macpherson for his time and service in Government. Last year, Ben Macpherson returned to Government as Minister for Higher and Further Education, and he continued as a minister in May, as the new Minister for Innovation, Technology and Tertiary Education. During his tenure, he has been a tremendous ally and champion of Scotland’s universities and colleges, as well as the country’s youth work and apprenticeship sectors. He led the Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill through the Parliament to its successful conclusion in March. In doing so, he widened access to higher education and ensured that Scotland’s post-school education and skills system worked more effectively for students, employers and our economy.
I am grateful to Ben Macpherson for his service. He requested to leave office and I respect his decision to do so. I know that he will continue to represent the people of Edinburgh North Eastern and Leith in his constituency and in this chamber. I thank him for his ministerial service.
The education portfolio underpins many of this Government’s priorities. As I set out last week in the programme for government, it leads an ambitious agenda to lay the groundwork for Scotland’s future prosperity. It helps families to access the education and training that provide them with a sustainable route out of poverty. It nurtures innovation and technological advancement. It ensures that our workforces have the skills and the knowledge that businesses need to grow our economy for the future.
I know that Alyn Smith is the right person to join this portfolio as a minister and to support the work of Màiri McAllan, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic. Alyn Smith brings with him a wealth of experience, having served the people of Scotland for two decades in both the European Parliament and the House of Commons before being elected to the Scottish Parliament. In those roles, he has taken a particular interest in the areas of university research and the application of that research to encouraging economic development. He will work closely to ensure that the voices of students, workers, businesses and employers are always at the heart of this Government’s post-school learning and development agenda.
Alyn Smith will work to ensure that our world-class universities remain world class and free to students, that we expand apprenticeships and nurture innovation, that we train the workforces that our businesses need to meet the challenges and opportunities for the future and that we do so by working closely with the colleges in Scotland. I therefore ask the Parliament to approve the appointment that I make today.
I move,
That the Parliament agrees that Alyn Smith be appointed as a junior Scottish Minister.
15:04
I recognise the contribution made by Ben Macpherson during his time in the tertiary education portfolio. I know that my Labour colleagues and those in the sector have welcomed his efforts in the role and his willingness to engage constructively, and I wish him well.
To Alyn Smith, I say welcome and congratulations. However, he faces many challenges. Our universities face a £200 million funding deficit and over £1.1 billion in unmet maintenance costs for their estates. Many are carrying out yet more sweeping cuts to staffing. Our colleges will have suffered a 20 per cent real-terms cut between 2021 and 2027, and the action taken so far by the Scottish Government has not addressed that. We now have 40,000 fewer college students than we had two years ago. Last year, nearly half of Scotland’s colleges were staring down the barrel of bankruptcy. The threats to tertiary education are real and critical.
The technology and innovation portion of the minister’s brief will also require strong leadership, which the Scottish Government has yet to demonstrate. There was cross-party agreement in the chamber last week that we need proper guidance on hyperscale artificial intelligence data centres, and that guidance needs to be forthcoming. Such centres present huge opportunities, but they must serve the interests of our communities.
I look forward to working with the new minister. I hope that he will engage positively, as his predecessor did. I will certainly engage positively with him, but we cannot shrink from the challenges that the sector faces.
15:06
I congratulate Mr Smith on his appointment as the new Minister for Innovation, Technology and Tertiary Education. Likewise, we wish Ben Macpherson, as the outgoing minister, well as he returns to the back benches. This is a very important portfolio and it will be particularly relevant to driving forward the Government’s public service reform agenda, so we look forward to working with Mr Smith in the role.
As the First Minister outlined, Mr Smith will bring his considerable experience from Brussels and Westminster to bear as a new minister. I look forward to a robust exchange of views in this chamber, particularly between my colleague David Kirkwood, as the shadow minister for this portfolio, and Mr Smith. We will certainly not oppose this nomination, and we wish the incoming minister well in his new brief.
15:07
I join other members in offering my congratulations to Alyn Smith on his appointment. He brings considerable experience to the role, and I know that he will take up the challenges of this portfolio.
It feels as though the ground is shifting in the tertiary education sector as the nature of work changes, and ensuring that Scotland has the skills and knowledge that are needed to thrive in this challenging and changing world is the task that now sits before him. Scottish Greens ask him to look forward to the technologies and economy of the future—clean, green, nature positive, waste free and zero carbon. Scotland has the opportunity to be at the cutting edge of new, and this is the time to seize it and make sure that we can deliver skilled workers to accelerate our success in heat pumps, heat networks, offshore wind, green hydrogen and all the rest of the green economy.
I am, on one hand, very sorry to lose Ben Macpherson as a minister. He is diligent, hard working and always on top of his brief. He has committed himself fully to his dual roles as constituency MSP and minister, and I can imagine the sacrifices that he has had to make to do so. I am grateful for his service. However, I am selfishly a little bit excited about being able to work with him on Holyrood park and other matters that concern our adjoining constituencies, because we will be able to get even more done in this city that we both love.
15:08
I, too, begin by welcoming Alyn Smith to his position and recognising the work that Ben Macpherson has done in this portfolio area. I was impressed by how quickly Alyn Smith reached out to my office for a discussion on his new portfolio, and I very much look forward to meeting him and his officials in due course. However, the new minister does not have his troubles to seek. We know that the sector is under increasing pressures at the moment, and it is time for the Scottish Government to show leadership in this field, not just to grow our economy and provide people with jobs, but to ensure that there are opportunities and a future for generations to come.
I call, last but never least, Duncan Dunlop.
15:09
On behalf of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, I welcome Alyn Smith to his new post as Minister for Innovation, Technology and Tertiary Education. I genuinely thank Ben Macpherson for his work in the role. He is universally liked and respected for what he put into the role and what he does in the chamber.
The new minister will face challenges. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, funding per domestic student fell by 19 per cent in real terms between 2014 and 2024, which has pushed universities into risky overreliance on international fees. Universities are facing an increasing £200 million funding gap, and I look forward to receiving information on how the minister will close that gap without hollowing out course choice, weakening university credibility or charging students. That wicked problem is compounded because the incoming minister must also guarantee investment in vocational training so that colleges and universities can close the skills gap. No doubt, the minister has his work cut out, but, as ever, the Liberal Democrats are willing to work constructively with him and the Government to deliver world-class education for Scotland.
15:10
I thank colleagues for their warm comments on Ben Macpherson, and I look forward to his working with Lorna Slater on all the local projects in Holyrood park that we will hear more about. Once again, I express my appreciation to Ben Macpherson for his service. I also thank colleagues for welcoming Alyn Smith to his post. Although I am fully aware of the challenges in this area of responsibility, colleagues’ willingness to work with Alyn Smith to find constructive solutions to some of those challenges is appreciated. That is the spirit in which the Government will engage during the course of the parliamentary session. I look forward to parliamentary support for the appointment.
Motion agreed to,
That the Parliament agrees that Alyn Smith be appointed as a junior Scottish Minister.
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