Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 22 March 2011
22 Mar 2011 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Scottish Executive Question Time
College Principals (Meetings)
General Questions
The minister, like all members, knows that the Scottish budget for the forthcoming year is being reduced by 2 per cent as a result of a reduction in revenue funding from the Westminster Government. However, the Scottish Government’s reduction in revenue funding to the college estate in Scotland is 10.4 per cent in one year. Will the minister explain why it was decided to reduce college funding by such a disproportionate amount in relation to the overall reduction in the Scottish budget? The minister will be aware that Borders College, among other colleges, is in the dreadful situation of considering compulsory redundancies. When she made her request to colleges with regard to redundancies, did she explain the difference between the overall reduction in the Scottish budget and the reduction in the budget for colleges by the Scottish Government?
In the same item of business
Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD)
LD
1. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met college principals. (S3O-13399)
The Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning (Angela Constance)
SNP
Ministers and officials regularly meet individual principals and representatives of the principals convention. I last met college principals on 16 March, whe...
Jeremy Purvis
LD
The minister, like all members, knows that the Scottish budget for the forthcoming year is being reduced by 2 per cent as a result of a reduction in revenue ...
Angela Constance
SNP
I am glad that Mr Purvis recognises the implications of the reduction of £1.3 billion in the Scottish Government’s budget by his Westminster Government. Howe...
Cathie Craigie (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (Lab)
Lab
College principals tell me that budgets for the coming year have been cut significantly and that, to maintain student numbers, they are having drastically to...
Angela Constance
SNP
I understand Cathie Craigie’s point. She should be aware that colleges the length and breadth of Scotland have given a commitment to maintain student numbers...