We do not want to have overlapping reviews, but do you think that there is a risk that we spend too much time doing reviews and not enough time focusing on the action points from those reviews?

There have been a lot of meetings. The bill has been produced in a short timescale. Perhaps you have not been listened to, and not everything that you wanted to be in the bill has been taken on board. Perhaps you did not have the chance to mention it.

Some of the evidence that we have received has raised concerns about adding new system reviews to an already complex review landscape. Katie Brown, if you have not already explained the issues or concerns that you have, will you give us a wee bit more detail on that? Could the review framework in the bill be revised and amended to address your concerns and reduce any potential strain on local authorities?

Do you have any comments on that, Dr Fletcher?

That is fine—thank you.

Graeme Simpson, do you want to comment?

The Scottish Retail Consortium reports that theft has reached record levels, costing businesses £170 million last year, and that violence towards shop workers is on the rise, with an average of 170 incidents every day over the year 2023-24. The situation is spiralling out of control as perpetrators are becoming more brazen. It is clear that thieves simply do not fear committing their crimes. What is the Scottish Government’s plan to ensure that shoplifters, many of whom are violent, are made to pay for their actions and know that their actions will have consequences?

The debate rightly centres on the nationwide skills gap in engineering and the impact that that has on growth, opportunities, education and Scotland’s broader economy. Although it is a Scotland-wide problem, all the failures are in evidence at local level, too.

The challenges that are being imposed on Ayrshire College are a perfect example. The institution continues to thrive in spite of the near-impossible environment in which it is expected to work. There is a record number of student enrolments in partnership developments, and the college expects to play a key role in preparing a workforce for future projects in the area that will lead to the creation of 5,000 jobs in the Prestwick aerospace cluster and at Hunterston.

However, there is a problem. For years, the Scottish Government’s funding settlement has meant that the college has had to cut its cloth. Staffing and non-staffing budgets have continued to reduce. Even with the below-inflation increase that is planned in the upcoming budget, the money does not go far enough. In fact, once pay deals and other rising costs are catered for, further cuts might have to be identified. The UK Labour Party’s national insurance changes will also hit the college for a further £1 million.

At Ayrshire College, without further funding, a staggering £2.5 million-worth of savings will need to be made in 2025-26. There is simply no way that the college can feasibly be expected to make those savings without there being serious implications for people and businesses in Ayrshire.

Our economy needs colleges more than ever to train up enough people for emerging economies, to staff the renewable energy revolution and to ensure that we have the supply chain to facilitate projects that lead us to net zero. If anything, the Government should pump money into those institutions now in order to reap the results later. Doing so would also bolster opportunities for young people, ease concerns about job losses coming down the tracks in other sectors and guarantee that, when jobs emerge in the energy and engineering sectors, we have enough home-grown workers to fill them.

The success of colleges also attracts people to live in communities that are at risk of rural depopulation. Without funding, there will be lost opportunities. Ayrshire College and others like it are anchor institutions with broad-reaching arms. They provide not only qualifications that can bring people into gainful employment but social and practical skills that can be a catalyst for helping people to lift themselves out of poverty.

The skills gap report highlights a concerning skills deficit, and it is vital that more support, not less, is provided to our further education institutes. The Scottish Government should stand by to work with colleges to offer additional capital investment and greater funding for projects and courses that are tailored to meet the regional needs of sectors and employers across the country.

Ayrshire College is just one example of an institution that has, for too long, been undervalued, underfunded and underestimated. Fortunately, as a result of its dedicated and proactive leadership team, it continues to defy the odds.

It is time for the Government to listen to colleges and to the industry—by doing so, we would get the benefit now and in the future. We cannot continue to expect the colleges of Scotland to make the impossible happen year after year.

One of the issues that we hear about with officers having to attend court is that they have to come in on their days off and sometimes have to cancel or fly home from holidays. I take it that the provision for virtual appearances will not help that in any way.

Again, this might just be my understanding of what witnesses have said, but I had thought that, when you go to court, you go to a witness room so that you cannot hear any other evidence that is given. If that is the case, would that not mean that, even if the police were giving evidence virtually, they would still have to be in a separate room so that they could not hear anything that was going on in the court?