Hansard

I am pleased to open the stage 3 debate on the University of St Andrews (Degrees in Medicine and Dentistry) Bill. The bill has reached stage 3 without amendment and with what I hope is the support of members throughout the chamber. I think that that is in no small measure thanks to thorough and careful scrutiny by the Health and Sport Committee, for which it has my thanks.

I think that this is the last time that I will have the opportunity so, for the record, I thank the members of the Health and Sport Committee, under your fair and able leadership as convener, Presiding Officer, for all the work that we have undertaken together and for their constructive engagement on and the positive contribution that they have made to critical areas in my portfolio. I also offer my thanks to the organisations and individuals who provided evidence at stage 1.

That the bill is a short and largely technical one should in no way detract from its importance. In essence, it will repeal an archaic, unfair and arguably anti-competitive prohibition that prevents the University of St Andrews from awarding medical and dentistry degrees. The prohibition was always intended to be transitional, and no other higher education institution in the United Kingdom suffers a similar prohibition. After 50 years, we are well past the time for it to be removed.

The bill will remove from one of our most valued higher education institutions a prohibition that, as I said, was never intended to remain for so long. As an additional impetus, the bill will enable the University of St Andrews to award jointly with the University of Dundee primary medical qualification degrees to Scottish graduate entry medicine programme—ScotGEM—students in advance of the first cohort graduating in 2022.

During the stage 1 debate, we heard strong support from across the chamber for ScotGEM, Scotland’s first graduate entry programme for medicine. The universities of St Andrews and Dundee have done incredible work to innovate new methods of delivering undergraduate medical education. That innovation focuses on the centrality of primary care. It inspires new interest in general practice and recognises the challenges and opportunities of remote and rural working, along with the lessons that those have for care in more urban settings.

I had the privilege of meeting and speaking to the first cohort of ScotGEM students. With other members, I have heard their strong testimony on the quality of learning and experience that they are receiving, and I have every confidence that ScotGEM will achieve its ambition of graduating passionate, skilled doctors for our national health service workforce who want to work and remain in NHS Scotland.

Removing the prohibition will create a fairer higher education sector in Scotland and across the United Kingdom, enabling all our valued higher education institutions in Scotland to maximise the options and opportunities that they offer to students.

As we recognised in the stage 1 debate, there are significant challenges to overcome in creating and growing a more sustainable medical workforce. There are also significant challenges to overcome in the higher education sector, including the constraints on immigration, the consequences of European Union exit and the potentially diminished attractiveness of studying abroad as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Removing the prohibition is one step in providing greater flexibility to address all those challenges.

This short, technical bill has an importance and a significance that should not be underestimated. It is right and timely to remove an anomalous prohibition that disadvantages one of Scotland’s higher education institutions.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees that the University of St. Andrews (Degrees in Medicine and Dentistry) Bill be passed.