Chamber and committees

I am aware of the challenges in that area. Hopefully that is something that we can pick up on.

Colleges are rightly recognised for their critical role in fostering social mobility, and regionalisation has helped to pave the way to educational opportunities for those who have been furthest away from the education system and the labour market. Everyone deserves an opportunity to access higher education, irrespective of their socioeconomic background. Over the past decade, school-college relationships have become stronger and they have played a vital role in lifting young people’s aspirations to stay in education. Those partnerships mean that pupils have had greater exposure to potential pathways that they find attractive.

Colleges provide alternative environments to schools and universities. Sir Peter Scott said:

“The college route is absolutely crucial, because colleges clearly reach people that universities, in their own right, find it much more difficult to reach, even with their best efforts.”—[Official Report, Education, Children and Young People Committee, 1 June 2022; c 20.]

Enhancing student voices is pivotal to creating a college sector that is diverse and truly learner centred. During our inquiry, it was understood that, although regionalisation has enhanced the student voice, particularly in students’ involvement in discussions at board level, student associations need to feel able to challenge boards properly. Sue Webber has already highlighted the committee’s call for the Scottish Government to consider how funding might impact on the independence of student voices.

Regionalisation has brought a wide range of benefits to our communities, including the capability of colleges to be agile and responsive to our society’s ever-changing needs. However, current policies and funding landscapes can hinder that ability to respond to those local needs. In response, our committee urgently recommends that colleges be given as many financial and operational flexibilities as possible to help them deliver on the various strands of their work, including flexibility for the year end, flexibility on SFC outcomes and flexibility in terms of access to additional funds.

I appreciate what the minister said on the subject. The flexibilities that have been delivered this year have been helpful, with the changes to guidance to optimise the balance of full-time and part-time provision; credit target reduction and the retention of a share of funding where credit targets are underdelivered; and the rolling back of backlog and life-cycle maintenance into one funding allocation.

However, I echo Ruth Maguire’s call for prompt action to deliver further flexibilities. I ask the minister to reaffirm his commitment to continue working jointly with colleges, to agree additional flexibilities and to assist colleges in their day-to-day operations.

Colleges often find themselves taking multiple directions. As a consequence, without a clear definition of their role and purpose, the intended goals of regionalisation can go unmet. I know that the minister is aware of the importance and urgency of a final purpose and principles statement. I appreciate that the college sector is highly complex and that it needs to be decluttered. However, delivery of that statement is vital to ensure that colleges can continue to positively contribute to our society, economy and just transition. It really cannot come soon enough.

It is positive to hear how our colleges and communities have reaped the benefits of regionalisation. However, challenges remain and there is no room for complacency when it comes to the delivery of education. Although I believe that the minister is right to take time to engage and collaborate directly with college leaders, listen to them and work with them, we must make the quickest progress possible. There must be a continued focus on developing Scotland’s world-class educational system into one that places learners at its heart, grows diverse partnership working and encourages people from all walks of life in Scotland to grow and thrive.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on any recent engagement with health and social care ministers from the other United Kingdom Administrations regarding a co-ordinated approach to dentistry. (S6O-02304)

I thank the minister for that answer. I welcome the comments that Jenni Minto made earlier this month to confirm extended Scottish dental access initiative grants and the enhanced recruitment and retention allowance. Importantly, the minister also noted that she was working with and writing to UK Department of Health and Social Care ministers to seek improvements to the registration process for overseas dentists on a four-countries basis. Can the minister provide an update on any progress made on that work to increase dentistry workforce pipelines from overseas? Does she agree that that work is vital to address the destructive impact of Brexit and improve oral healthcare for patients?

We spoke earlier about how single mothers are least likely to get involved in sport, how mothers put their children first and how the situation would be better if only women had more time. How do we ensure that women make it a priority to look after their physical and mental health by getting involved in sport and activities? Perhaps the pregnancy and postnatal periods are an opportunity to do that.

Lots of mums prioritise their children and go to breastfeeding groups and toddlers groups, so why are we not looking at them going to activities and sports groups as well? We need to get the message out to those parents that, if they keep themselves active and get involved in sports, that will be a huge benefit for their children. Is that an area that we should be looking to develop, so that we can bring through the next generation of young people? That question goes first to David Ferguson. It would also be good to hear from Flora Jackson, and I can see Kim Atkinson nodding.

I want to go back to the first question that David Torrance asked. Has there been an impact on patient wellbeing as a result of the Covid pandemic? Has the pandemic exacerbated some patients’ problems and made it more difficult for them to have a safe transfer to lower levels of security?

Perhaps it would be helpful to have a focus on that age group specifically.

Is there anything that you would like to talk about in relation to young people with additional support needs who perhaps struggled to get that support during the pandemic?

That is clear and very helpful. Thank you.

I have a quick one for colleagues in Wales. You spoke about wanting to be truly inclusive, and there was some discussion earlier about the extra costs that can be involved for carers and so on. When you look at the funding, are you setting a proportion aside to tackle that stuff, or does the funding follow the numbers of people who are benefiting?

Not at all. You spoke about how important being truly inclusive is, and we heard earlier about how there can be additional costs for carers and so on. When you look at the funding, do you portion that up to start with and look at what will be allocated to that type of work, or does the funding follow the numbers of people that you want to support?