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Meeting of the Parliament 22 November 2012

22 Nov 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Further Education

Russell, Michael SNP Argyll and Bute Watch on SPTV

I do, and I shall explain that in my speech. I thank the member for his intervention.

In having the type of debate that we have to have, we must start by recognising that the current context is one that certainly makes change difficult, but also makes it essential. Such change is taking place throughout these islands; indeed, I note from today’s Irish Independent the headline

“No extra cash for colleges without reform”,

which is a quote from the Irish Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn.

There will be different solutions in different places but the problems are very similar. However, this debate—and I—must also be mindful of the events of the past fortnight in this place and elsewhere. I accept the point made by Liam McArthur during the week that this renewed focus on further education should give the Government and the Parliament an opportunity to consider our approach afresh, to assure ourselves that our aims are capable of being met and to look at changes of style or substance as required. That is why I was keen to agree to having a debate today, as suggested originally by Mr McArthur.

As minister, I have engaged closely with the college sector over the past year—that has been crucial in delivering the reforms that have taken place so far—but I want to scale up that effort and to listen even more as we go forward. Let us start with priorities. My priority is education and opportunity based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay. Liz Smith is entirely entitled to argue, as she did in the debate last week, that extra funding should be found for colleges by charging university students for their education. I profoundly disagree with that position and I think that the evidence from south of the border bears out the contention that such an approach drives out the poorest students and those least likely to go to university.

Applications to study at university are down by more than 20 per cent in parts of the United Kingdom, with a drop of 10,000 in the number of young people applying from the north-east of England. Applications from Scottish students, meanwhile, are marginally up.

However, there is a another strong reason why I do not believe that this is an appropriate approach for Scotland and Scotland’s college sector. The illustration is this—the National Union of Students correctly highlights that from next year, those in England aged 24 or over who want to take a level 3 apprenticeship can look forward to the prospect of having to take out a loan to go to work. That is not a situation that I want to see imported into Scotland. Here, our fee waiver and tuition fee support regime make the situation vastly preferable, to the benefit of tens of thousands of our college students.

Indeed, figures from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills make it clear that budgets for FE in England were projected to fall by £200 million between 2011-12 and 2012-13. That is a projected fall of 5 per cent, compared with the actual fall in Scotland of 1.7 per cent.

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Meeting of the Parliament 22 November 2012

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