Chamber and committees

I recognise the financial challenges colleges are currently facing. The 2025-26 budget sees a £13.2 million uplift on 2024-25 to the college resource allocation, in recognition of the vital role colleges play in communities across Scotland. On top of this a further £3.5 million in targeted support has been announced for offshore wind and social care skills pathways. This is alongside an increase of almost 5% in capital maintenance funding which will help colleges further invest in student’s learning experiences. Following the decision by UKG to increase employer National Insurance contributions we have agreed to allocate 60% costs to colleges. While this does not fully meet the estimated cost pressures, we will continue to engage with sector representative bodies on their concerns. We called on the Chancellor to fund these costs in full and will continue to press UKG on this matter.

It is the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) role to work closely with the college sector to identify the best split of the available resources, taking into account Government priorities and the college sector’s needs.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) regularly on a range of issues. This has included SFC’s plans to implement changes to the Council’s approach to college funding allocations in response to requests from the sector, and their discussions with the sector on these changes. In my recent letter of guidance, 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.

Through the Colleges: Tripartite Alignment Group (comprising of Scottish Government, the SFC and Colleges Scotland) collaboration continues to work on identifying and implementing workable flexibilities to ease colleges’ financial pressures while ensuring accountability for public funds. For example, a revised process for the disposal of college assets has recently been implemented, where colleges can retain a higher amount of the sale proceeds.

A fresh set of priorities for the Group was 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.

It is the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) responsibility to ensure the fair and equitable distribution of the funding across the college sector. SFC have confirmed no college will see a funding reduction in Academic Year 2025-26 when compared with 2024-25 and are engaging with affected colleges around mitigations that will help them adjust as changes in the funding allocation approach are implemented.

In the approach to the recent indicative college allocations for Academic Year 2025-26, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) responded to requests from the sector to address issues regarding transparency and funding comparability between learners on similar courses and colleges. Through the Colleges: Tripartite Alignment Group (comprising of Scottish Government, the SFC and Colleges Scotland) collaboration continues to work on identifying and implementing workable flexibilities to ease colleges’ financial pressures while ensuring accountability for public funds.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) regularly monitors individual institution’s financial sustainability and considers appropriate forms of support. The indicative allocations published by the SFC on 10 April will enable colleges to move forward with planning for academic year 2025-26. The SFC allocations include a 2.6% increase in teaching funding compared with last year; an additional £4.5 million for lecturer's pay and £8.3 million for pensions; and an increase of almost 5% in capital maintenance funding to help colleges further invest in student’s learning experiences. The student support budget has also been maintained at the same level as last year, despite pressures on the public purse.

Over the last three years, the Scottish Government has provided the Scottish Assembly with £425,136 to build capacity via our leadership and engagement framework and £316,349 of core funding via our Inspiring Inclusion charity portfolio over the last 4 years. Both of these funds are managed and distributed by fund manager, Inspiring Scotland.

Inspiring Scotland offer management consultancy services to the Scottish Assembly’s executive team and Board and provide intensive support where needed. This includes support to explore alternative funding and income streams aimed at long term sustainability of the organisation.

The Scottish Government continues to closely monitor and assess the direct and indirect impacts of new US goods tariffs, and is working closely with our enterprise agencies, the UK Government, and the business community, to assess the implications and consequences for the Scottish economy and businesses. Information for businesses on US tariffs can be found at https://findbusinesssupport.gov.scot/usa-tariffs

We will continue to promote the export growth of Scottish businesses in both current and emerging markets as they find a way through this challenging time.

In recognition of the significant impact of tariffs on both the Scottish and UK economy, the First Minister has called on the UK Government to provide additional measures and economic support in response.

The Assembly will receive £107,152 in the first six months of 2025-26, with bids for three year funding from the Learning Disability Support Fund currently being considered. We expect successful bids to be confirmed in May 2025, with funding starting in October 2025.

Information on assaults on teachers is not held centrally as, under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, education is the responsibility of local authorities.

The biennial Attendance, Absence and Exclusions data collection gathers data on the number and reasons recorded for temporary or permanent exclusions from schools. These data show that there were 1,281 cases of exclusion (temporary or permanent) from publicly funded schools in Scotland during 2022-23 where the reason recorded was either ‘physical assault using improvised weapon against staff’, ‘physical assault using weapon against staff’ or ‘physical assault with no weapon against staff’.

The Scottish Government is unaware of any particular concerns regarding uptake of abdominal aortic aneurysm screening in NHS Ayrshire and Arran. The social media posts reported in the press were routine reminders posted by NHS Ayrshire and Arran as part of a targeted campaign to raise awareness of all national screening programmes.

The latest Public Health Scotland report shows that 83.5% of men in Ayrshire and Arran attended abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening by the age of 66 years and 3 months for 2023/24. This exceeds the acceptable standard of 75%, and the national average of 77.3%. In addition, uptake was above the acceptable standard for men in all of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation quintiles.