Chamber and committees

No post-16 education equality and diversity working group has been established as part of the Post-16 Reform process. Issues relating to equality and diversity are currently being considered on a continual basis as we develop our policy in this area.

The Scottish Government takes its responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 and the public sector equality duty very seriously and we continue to work to ensure that the policy and spending decisions we take pay due regard to their impact on equality and diversity.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-05108 on 3 February 2012 and S4W-04212 on 8 December 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Matters relating to the funding of colleges fall within the responsibility of the Scottish Funding Council.

Funding for student support in the further education sector is detailed in the following table.

Note: *£10 million to fund extra student support plus an additional £1.4 million, representing the “student support” element of an extra one-off £8 million to fund additional student places and related costs

There has been no delay. The timetable published in our consultation paper on college regionalisation indicated college funding allocations would be made available in March 2012, following parliamentary approval of the 2012-13 budget. This is what we will do.

Matters relating to the funding of individual colleges fall within the responsibility of the Scottish Funding Council. I have asked its Chief Executive to write to the member.

Matters relating to the funding of individual colleges fall within the responsibility of the Scottish Funding Council. I have asked its Chief Executive to write to the member.

My officials are routinely involved in discussions with the Scottish Funding Council on matters relating to further education, including on maintaining the baseline of student numbers at colleges.

The block grant to the further education sector for (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15 is shown in the following table. The figures for 2012-13 are subject to parliamentary approval and the figures for 2013-14 and 2014-15 are plans. The capital split between further education and higher education in each of the years has not yet been finalised.

Matters relating to the funding of individual colleges fall within the responsibility of the Scottish Funding Council. I have asked its Chief Executive to write to the member.