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Meeting of the Parliament 22 November 2012

22 Nov 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Further Education

McArthur, Liam LD Orkney Islands Watch on SPTV

It seems that barely a day goes by without there being apologies offered to the chamber or attempts made to surreptitiously amend the Official Report, so in that spirit I will start by offering an apology of my own. Looking back at the debate on colleges last week that was initiated by Liz Smith, I appear to have misled Parliament. That was inadvertent and what I said was certainly said in good faith. Nevertheless, when I suggested that Mike Russell

“is not a man who ever finds it easy to say, ‘I am wrong’”—[Official Report, 14 November 2012; c 13444.]

I may have created a false impression. The education secretary may still not find it easy to say sorry, but he is certainly getting what many would consider to be some long-overdue practice.

It is right that we are having this debate today but it is testimony to the mess that has been created by the Government and, in particular, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning in their handling of Scotland’s college sector. Most striking about this omnishambles is the extent to which it has been largely self-inflicted through an unwillingness to properly listen and an over-fondness to assert and lambast. In a remarkable show of chutzpah, Mr Russell chose this of all weeks to refer his colleague, the Minister for Transport and Veterans, to the ombudsman over the boorach that has been created over the Gourock to Dunoon ferry service. I dare say that Keith Brown is tempted to return the favour in relation to colleges.

No one disputes that there is complexity in college funding, not least given the differences between spending in academic and financial years. However, as the Education and Culture Committee has established, instead of making the situation better and clearer, Mr Russell has excelled at making it worse and more opaque. Not only has he been hung by his own petard, Mr Russell has managed to use it to string up the First Minister as well, nodding along happily all the while.

It is not as if offers of help were not made. During last week’s debate, Liz Smith rather helpfully intervened to suggest that there was confusion around college funding figures due to a lack of consistency in how the figures are measured. Did Mr Russell respond to that plea of mitigation on his behalf with grateful and humble thanks and a statement of his determination to make things better and clearer in the future? Not quite. He said:

“the figures are quite clear on where we are. Where we are is quite clear from the baseline figures, and the additional money that we have added in every single year is quite clear.”—[Official Report, 14 November 2012; c 13428.]

No doubt he is a further candidate for the Alex Salmond award for

“about as exact an answer as anybody has given in any Parliament”.—[Official Report, 15 November 2012; c 13513.]

What is quite clear is that there is a cut in college funding this year. Audit Scotland calculated it to be in the order of 24 per cent in real terms over the spending review period. In its briefing, Scotland’s Colleges pointed to a reduction in revenue funding of £113 million between 2010-11 and 2014-15. In terms of the teaching grant and fee waiver, it estimated the drop to be around £73 million by the end of the current financial year.

Against the backdrop of a 6 per cent real-terms cut in the Government’s overall budget, it is hard to square those figures from Audit Scotland and Scotland’s Colleges with the assertion from Mr Russell and Mr Salmond that colleges are a priority for the SNP. It is that fundamental contradiction that needs to be addressed. Doing so will require additional funding to be made available for specifically the teaching budget, which I will return to shortly.

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Meeting of the Parliament 22 November 2012

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