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Every contribution to the Official Report — chamber and committee — searchable in one place. Pulled from data.parliament.scot, indexed for full-text search, linked through to every MSP.

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2,354,908
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1999–2026
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Showing 60 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.
John Pentland Lab Chamber
22 Mar 2016
Topical Question Time · Dalzell and Clydebridge Steel Plants (Update on Negotiations)
No. I am quite happy with that answer—especially considering that the minister might be running out of breath.
John Pentland Lab Chamber
22 Mar 2016
Topical Question Time · Dalzell and Clydebridge Steel Plants (Update on Negotiations)
I thank the minister for that reply. I am sure that he will not be surprised to hear that I consider that getting people back into their jobs is the priority. Can he assure me that everything possible has been done to ensure that the election does not delay a deal in any way a...
2. John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Chamber
22 Mar 2016
Topical Question Time · Dalzell and Clydebridge Steel Plants (Update on Negotiations)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on negotiations to save the steel plants at Dalzell and Clydebridge. (S4T-01367)
John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Chamber
17 Mar 2016
General Question Time · Steel Industry (Support)
Although that is appreciated, the key question is not what the Scottish Government has done but where it is going. It is now more than five months since Tata Steel made its announcement. For the workers, all that has happened is a phased decline with mothballing, and support t...
John Pentland Lab Committee
08 Mar 2016
National Performing Companies
Everyone else has taken the opportunity to plug something, so I will plug Motherwell concert hall and theatre, which has some terrific star attractions over the next two or three weeks. I invite you all to come along. We talked about how the national companies measure success...
John Pentland Lab Committee
08 Mar 2016
National Performing Companies
Chris Hampson mentioned the close relationship of the companies now that they are working under a national portfolio. That being the case, do you think that perhaps somewhere down the line we could be moving towards a national performing company rather than national performing...
John Pentland Lab Committee
08 Mar 2016
National Performing Companies
Might you be able to provide us with a figure on how much of your core funding goes into staff wages?
John Pentland Lab Committee
08 Mar 2016
National Performing Companies
I ask the same question of Alex Reedijk, so that he can also provide a figure. What about Roy McEwan?
John Pentland Lab Committee
08 Mar 2016
National Performing Companies
How much of your core funding goes into staff wages?
John Pentland Lab Committee
08 Mar 2016
National Performing Companies
During the period of austerity, has Scottish Opera made any staff cuts?
John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Committee
08 Mar 2016
National Performing Companies
Over the past year or two, most public bodies have had to make efficiency savings and meet demands for cuts. What staff structures do the five national performing companies have in place, in relation to the funding they receive?
John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Chamber
08 Mar 2016
Higher Education Governance (Scotland) Bill
As we have heard, the passage of the bill has not been a great advert for the Scottish Government’s competence and grasp of educational matters, but then again, what is? Matters that should have been thrashed out in co-operation with institutions’ staff and students have been ...
John Pentland Lab Committee
01 Mar 2016
College Reform
Finally, you have said that the budget for 2013 to 2016 has flatlined. If you are going to give money for additional student support, where will that money come from?
John Pentland Lab Committee
01 Mar 2016
College Reform
No—of course. Sorry, convener.
John Pentland Lab Committee
01 Mar 2016
College Reform
We would like to track that, if you are giving additional—
John Pentland Lab Committee
01 Mar 2016
College Reform
Can you tell us what the drop-out figure is?
John Pentland Lab Committee
01 Mar 2016
College Reform
My question follows on from Liam McArthur’s question on student support, which is an issue that we have asked previous witnesses at committee about. In fact, NUS Scotland raised concerns about student support, saying that it was not fit for purpose. I am, in a way, relieved th...
John Pentland Lab Committee
01 Mar 2016
College Reform
Can the witnesses advise us of what the drop-out percentage is?
John Pentland Lab Committee
01 Mar 2016
College Reform
Can I ask one further question, convener?
John Pentland Lab Committee
01 Mar 2016
College Reform
I have a further question, which is for those in the college sector. The reform is a giant step forward for a lot of people, and a lot of people are buying into it, but there is still some criticism. For example, the NUS has said that student support is not fit for purpose. Th...
John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Committee
01 Mar 2016
College Reform
Most of the answers that I was seeking have been given in response to George Adam’s questions. It is good to have reassurance that the consultation, or rather co-operation, is now working for businesses. It is a giant step forward for the people you are involved with among loc...
John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Chamber
01 Mar 2016
Work, Wages and Wellbeing
In general, I welcome the recommendations of this report, which back up many of the things that Scottish Labour has been saying for some time. The Scottish Government has also made supportive noises but has not always taken opportunities when they are presented. I hope that th...
John Pentland Lab Committee
23 Feb 2016
School Spending and Educational Attainment
We have already said how we would fund it.
John Pentland Lab Committee
23 Feb 2016
School Spending and Educational Attainment
Would you therefore concede that Scottish Labour’s fair start fund would close the attainment gap quicker than the Scottish Government’s attainment challenge fund?
John Pentland Lab Committee
23 Feb 2016
School Spending and Educational Attainment
You said that there are deprived children in every school. Obviously, those kids need help, and schools need help to close the attainment gap. My question to you is this: when will the schools that are not part of everything that you just talked about receive financial help to...
John Pentland Lab Committee
23 Feb 2016
School Spending and Educational Attainment
Do you not think that you are being unfair to schools that are not eligible for any support whatsoever? How are you going to improve things for them in closing the attainment gap? Why are those schools having to wait? You said that you have a universal approach. If that is the...
John Pentland Lab Committee
23 Feb 2016
School Spending and Educational Attainment
Cabinet secretary, I am sure that you are aware of Labour’s fair start fund, under which, if it were to be implemented, every primary school in the country would receive an extra £1,000 for each pupil from a deprived background. For example, my North Lanarkshire authority woul...
John Pentland Lab Committee
23 Feb 2016
School Spending and Educational Attainment
I thank the witnesses for giving us specific answers and for referring to peripheral services. Will the cutback in the budget have an impact on the attainment gap? In particular, we have to keep up teacher numbers, but will the budget reduction have an impact on the support th...
John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Committee
23 Feb 2016
School Spending and Educational Attainment
Over the past couple of months, we have seen a fierce reaction to the local government settlement, especially in relation to its likely impact on education. Perhaps much of the protest has come from Labour-controlled authorities. COSLA’s submission accepts that the process of ...
John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Chamber
23 Feb 2016
BBC Charter Renewal
Being politicians, it is natural that a lot of what we think about the BBC is determined by its political output. After all, what could be more important than what we have to say here in the Scottish Parliament? UK and international news should get a look-in, but preferably fr...
John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Chamber
02 Feb 2016
Education (Scotland) Bill
Some aspects of the legislation are okay as far as they go; with some, it is for the best that they do not go further; and with others, it is a pity that the legislation lacks ambition. The most important point, however, is that successful legislation is more than just a bill....
John Pentland Lab Chamber
27 Jan 2016
Education (Attainment Gap)
United Kingdom cuts have been multiplied fivefold, with devastating consequences for council services such as schools and childcare. That severely undermines any good that is being done by the attainment fund. How much good that fund will do is highly questionable when it igno...
John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Chamber
27 Jan 2016
Education (Attainment Gap)
For some reason, the Scottish National Party still wants us to judge it on its record, so let us do that. After nine years of nationalist decline, the cabinet secretary’s coat ought to be on a shoogly peg. Does she or anybody in the SNP think that it is acceptable that young p...
John Pentland Lab Chamber
27 Jan 2016
Portfolio Question Time · European Union Students
What does the Scottish Government estimate are the costs and benefits of that, and has it made any progress towards implementing management fees?
5. John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Chamber
27 Jan 2016
Portfolio Question Time · European Union Students
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many non-United Kingdom undergraduate European Union students are studying in Scotland. (S4O-05478)
John Pentland Lab Committee
12 Jan 2016
BBC Charter Renewal
Finally, given the amount of money that Scotland pays into the pot overall, do we get enough back, proportionately, to train apprentices?
John Pentland Lab Committee
12 Jan 2016
BBC Charter Renewal
Are any of them apprentice journalists or anything like that?
John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Committee
12 Jan 2016
BBC Charter Renewal
I am not sure whether I picked you up wrong. You take on 10 apprenticeships every year. Are they trained in London? If that is the case, have any apprentice journalists been based in Scotland?
John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Chamber
12 Jan 2016
Education
I believe that we are having this debate today not through the Scottish Government’s choice but as a reaction to criticisms of its education policy. It is easy to see why the SNP is under attack. Young people from wealthier families are twice as likely to go to university as t...
John Pentland (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab) Lab Chamber
16 Dec 2015
Portfolio Question Time · Apprenticeship Levy (Discussions)
What discussions has the Scottish Government had with industry bodies based here in Scotland and in the rest of the UK, and with others who provide apprenticeship training, on the levy’s impact on their current apprenticeship schemes?
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
Just in general.
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
I want to go back to the first question on the fee strategy. I think that there was an assumption that the review would have been completed and in our hands by now. “Assume” and “assumption” are among the most common words in the budget proposal. We know that that means that ...
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
When you hire somebody from the private sector, how do you negotiate the contract? Do you say to the private sector firm, “Here is £20,000; now go away and do the job,” or is the figure arrived at by negotiation?
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
This is a point that we have emphasised on a number of occasions. If you are using a private company’s work as a benchmark, are you able to achieve that benchmark in-house or are you taking longer to do the same job?
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
Yes, but surely the private company is bound by the same criteria and has to deliver the same quality.
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
Do you have any examples of that?
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
I am not talking about the cost; I am talking about the time that it takes. We have already gauged that £20,000 is set aside. It is the time that I am trying to establish. Would it take the in-house team a week to do the job for the same cost or would the in-house team take ei...
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
No, I am trying to say that it should be like for like. Do you have that comparability?
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
Yes. We are talking about money and time. There is a £20,000 fee and the private firm is able to do the job in a week. If you get an in-house team to do the same job and you give the team £20,000 for that, will that team do the job within a week?
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
No, I am asking whether the in-house team would do it in the same time that it took the private company—a week.
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
If a private firm is given a fee of £20,000, for example, and it is able to do that job in a week, there will be profit in that. If you are then giving the same sort of task to an in-house team, would you expect the team, given the £20,000, to do a comparable job? Would you ex...
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
By way of benchmarking it?
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
Although private firms might have that incentive to work to their fee, how is that efficiency delivered in-house?
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
The commission is aware that Audit Scotland pays private sector firms a set fee for an audit appointment, and it is for the firms to plan and deliver their work within that fee. That creates an incentive for those firms to be as efficient as possible in order to maximise their...
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
Can you make any in-house savings by not travelling?
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
How does that balance with you sending people out to firms?
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
So it is not down to audit work; it is down to efficiencies that have been achieved elsewhere, one of which you identify as travel.
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
Appendix 1, which concerns operating cost trends, shows that Audit Scotland’s expenditure on private firms has decreased marginally year on year from 2013-14’s actual expenditure to 2016-17’s proposed budget. In the same period, Audit Scotland’s gross administrative costs have...
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
Do you think that Audit Scotland has a legitimate role in that process? Obviously, a lot of money will be collected through those different powers.
John Pentland Lab Committee
10 Dec 2015
Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2016/17
Given that HMRC is currently subject to audit by the National Audit Office, does Audit Scotland envisage any scope to pursue a resource transfer from the National Audit Office to Audit Scotland? One might assume that the extent of the NAO’s input might decrease for the taxes t...
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Committee

Education and Culture Committee 01 March 2016

01 Mar 2016 · S4 · Education and Culture Committee
Item of business
College Reform
Maxwell, Stewart SNP West Scotland Watch on SPTV
Welcome to the Education and Culture Committee’s seventh meeting in 2016. I remind all present that electronic devices should be switched off. Our first item is to take evidence on college reform, with a focus on the impact on learners and employers. I welcome Annette Bruton from Edinburgh College, Paul Little from the City of Glasgow College, Barry McCulloch from the Federation of Small Businesses and Gordon McGuinness from Skills Development Scotland. Before we move into specific areas of questioning from the committee, I ask each of you to give a short overview of the benefits that you expected to result from college reform and whether they have been delivered.

In the same item of business

The Convener (Stewart Maxwell) SNP
Welcome to the Education and Culture Committee’s seventh meeting in 2016. I remind all present that electronic devices should be switched off. Our first ite...
Gordon McGuinness (Skills Development Scotland)
I can view the reform from two sides: as a board member and chair of Reid Kerr College in Paisley until it merged to become part of West College Scotland, an...
Barry McCulloch (Federation of Small Businesses)
We expected two benefits for small businesses: increased responsiveness to the labour market and enhanced employer engagement. If we are being honest, there ...
Paul Little (City of Glasgow College)
The last time I was here, I talked about the three Rs—regionalisation, reform and reclassification. I have reflected since then and I now think that we as a ...
Annette Bruton (Edinburgh College)
If we look at what the reforms were intended to deliver, Edinburgh College is working hard to achieve better choices for students—not necessarily more choice...
The Convener SNP
I thank you all. Mary Scanlon will start the questions.
Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con) Con
When I read the two submissions from the colleges in Glasgow and Edinburgh, I thought that they could not be more different. One is positive and successful: ...
Annette Bruton
We did not set out to write a negative response for the committee. We sought to give a balanced view of where we are in the college sector. Many people are a...
Mary Scanlon Con
You have pointed out the difficulties, the challenges and the risks, and the fact that meaningful engagement is variable. If I were a student who read that a...
Paul Little
That is a challenging question. I will not get into the politics of the two cities—I will avoid that one. You would be very welcome if you came to Glasgow ag...
Mary Scanlon Con
I am a wee bit old for further education.
Paul Little
At the heart of our change effort—and remember that we are a bit further down the road—is the fact that we kept the students very much at the centre. We have...
The Convener SNP
That is interesting but, fundamentally, is it not the case that Glasgow started its process two years earlier than Edinburgh did?
Paul Little
I assume so.
The Convener SNP
Is that correct, roughly speaking?
Paul Little
Yes.
The Convener SNP
Is it fair to say that Glasgow has had a two-year head start on some other colleges in the process, which is partly the reason for the difference? I have see...
Paul Little
I think that we started three years ahead, because we merged in 2010. Ultimately, I will not be dragged into making a comparison with any other college. I am...
Mary Scanlon Con
I will go on to the reduction in learning activity that has been well documented over the past few months. The Audit Scotland report has the reduction in par...
Gordon McGuinness
Our funding is distinctly different from the Scottish funding council’s. Our modern apprenticeship programme is growing and the relationships with colleges i...
Mary Scanlon Con
Are you funding more places or fewer?
Gordon McGuinness
Our main development programme—I think that we are working with 20 colleges in 2015-16—is the foundation apprenticeship model, which we had piloted in Fife a...
Barry McCulloch
The issues that small businesses come to us about focus purely on skills and recruitment. We know that 22 per cent of small businesses in Scotland recruit co...
Paul Little
At the City of Glasgow College, we are fortunate in that 60 per cent of our income comes from the Scottish funding council and about 40 per cent is non-SFC i...
Annette Bruton
The areas that Paul Little just outlined, such as the international work and the commercial work that we do, certainly help to mitigate economic pressures. E...
Mary Scanlon Con
I will ask my final questions together. Not everyone has to answer all of them. First, I want to ask about national pay bargaining. I have brought along an ...
The Convener SNP
Not everybody has to answer all of those questions. Let us start with Paul Little and Annette Bruton.
Paul Little
National pay bargaining is a process and not an event. I once saw a sign in a shop—
Mary Scanlon Con
It has been a process for five years.
Paul Little
And it is coming to an end. Let us be honest. We have achieved national bargaining for support staff, which has been a huge endeavour. We have not had nation...