Chamber and committees

In my recent letter of guidance to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), I made it clear that we expect the SFC to consider the financial sustainability of individual institutions, and needs of learners, as part of any decisions around funding allocations.

Francesca Osowska, Chief Executive of the SFC, wrote to Angela Cox, Principal of Ayrshire College, on 1 April advising the SFC intended to take more time before publishing its indicative funding allocations to allow time to consider the feedback provided, including that from Ayrshire College. Francesca also provided reassurance that colleges will receive additional funding for lecturers’ pay and additional funding for pensions; and advised that the SFC are happy to have further discussions with Ms Cox and her colleagues in relation to support for flexibility within the credit model. The SFC published the indicative allocations on 10 April.

Specifically in relation to the financial sustainability of Ayrshire College, Francesca urged the College to contact the SFC’s institutional sustainability team to discuss its projections. I too would urge Ayrshire College to engage fully with the SFC on these matters at the earliest opportunity.

In relation to supporting the growth of Ayrshire College, the College plays an important role in supporting Ayrshire’s regional economy. There has been engagement on regional skills planning between the College, my officials, Colleges Scotland and the Ayrshire Regional Economic Partnership. My officials have engaged extensively with the Regional Economic Partnerships Network, sharing initial guidelines for how to collectively strengthen regional skills planning, building on existing best practice. I would encourage further engagement of this nature between Ayrshire College and other parties to ensure that the College is at the forefront of the development of future models of regional skills planning.

The Scottish Government is also investing £103 million over 10 years in the Ayrshire Growth Deal, matching the investment of the UK Government. This is supporting a series of projects which will transform the regional economy and support long-term inclusive growth, and Ayrshire College is a key partner in a number of those projects.

Further to this, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) oversees the national apprenticeship programmes and administers funding on behalf of the Scottish Government. SDS regularly conducts an open procurement process via Public Contract Scotland, and throughout the year, implements in-year reallocations of Modern Apprenticeship (MA) starts to ensure flexibility in responding to employer demand. Depending on budget availability, training providers are informed of the policy and process to request an increase in volumes, and SDS may reallocate MA starts on an ongoing basis based on evidence of performance. I would encourage Ayrshire College to continue to liaise with SDS and raise any concerns about their contracts with them in the first instance if the College feels that its potential for growth in this area is not being fulfilled.

More generally on support for the sustainability and growth of our colleges, the college Tripartite Alignment Group (comprising of Scottish Government, the SFC and Colleges Scotland) continues to work on identifying and implementing workable flexibilities to ease colleges’ financial pressures while ensuring accountability for public funds.

A fresh set of priorities for the Group were agreed last year, and work is underway across those areas, namely diversification of funding into the sector, establishment of a new way to flexibly fund investment in Curriculum Transformation, and exploration of the breadth of delivery via colleges.

Formalised changes to guidance on college asset disposals have been issued as a result of the work of the Tripartite Alignment Group, enabling colleges to retain a more significant proportion of the value of any sale to invest locally. Here is the link to the Group’s webpage where you can view the Terms of Reference, members, and minutes from the Group’s meetings: Colleges: Tripartite Alignment Group - gov.scot

Scotland’s diverse fishing industry is subject to a variety of management measures including temporal and spatial restrictions on gear deployment, vessel type and catch. As with the 2017 change to minimum landing size for lobster, there are instances where management measures vary between areas, to help ensure sustainable fisheries. It should be noted that the 2017 measures were informed by scientific advice, a 12-week public consultation and engagement with our Regional Inshore Fisheries Group (RFIG) network.

Decisions made regarding the management of Scotland’s commercial fisheries are based on stock assessment advice provided by our scientific advisors and we recently shared updated reports based on landings from 2020 – 2023 with our stakeholders.

In addition, the Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics publication has information on landings and sales data, and can be accessed through the Scottish Government website. This can be used to compare the landings of different species and different geographic areas.

Decisions concerning the number and recruitment of both On-Call and Wholetime firefighters is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

The standard of fitness required for firefighters is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Portfolio responsibility for fire and rescue sits with myself and therefore the majority of meetings with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and its trade unions are undertaken by myself rather than the Cabinet Secretary. The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs joined myself in a meeting with the Fire Brigades Union on 22 November 2023 to discuss the FBU’s Firestorm report.

The Scottish Government’s budget for 2025-26 includes £412.2 million for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) which is an increase of £18.8 million. This will enable SFRS to continue to deliver the high standard of services required to keep communities safe. This includes an increase from £43 million to £47 million in capital funding which will allow the service to invest more in property, fleet and equipment. The allocation of resources is a matter for the SFRS Board.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with SFRS to ensure continuing priority is given to the implementation of its wildfire strategy. The Service’s planned spend is circa £1.6 million over the course of the 3 year roll-out of its strategy. New equipment, vehicles and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) continues to be rolled out and SFRS will fully implement its wildfire strategy during the course of 2025. As part of its strategy SFRS is adopting ‘burn suppression’ techniques such as those in use in the new Mediterranean-style specialist wildfire units. Due to extensive training and the use of new techniques, SFRS’s ability to tackle wildfires has never been so advanced.

The Minister for Victims and Community Safety regularly meets with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Chief Officer and Board Chair where a wide range of issues are discussed, including the capital budget allocation and the SFRS estate. The Scottish Government is aware of the condition of fire stations and has increased the capital funding for SFRS from £32.5m in 2023-24 to £43m in 2024-25 and to £47m in 2025-26. The allocation of resources is a matter for the SFRS Board.

I refer the member to the answer to her question S6W-36661 on 24 April 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government has published the minutes of these meetings. The final National Bairns’ Hoose Governance Group meeting took place on 26 June 2024, so no subsequent meetings of the National Bairns’ Hoose Governance Group have been held since this date.