Hansard

Scotland’s colleges are the linchpin on which the future of Scotland depends. That is perhaps a bold statement, but it is backed up by a Fraser of Allander Institute report from 2023 that states, inter alia, that Scotland’s colleges generate additional value worth £20 billion for the Scottish economy. Each graduate delivers an additional £55,000 boost to productivity over their working life. The total public sector cost of investing in those learners is roughly a third of the cumulative tax revenues that are generated. Scotland’s colleges also directly employ about 11,000 staff, providing local economic boosts.

That means that colleges add huge value—much more than they cost—to the national economy and local economies. However, evidence shows that they also deliver faster sustainable economic growth by, for example, supplying employers with a skilled workforce. They provide better employment prospects, with increased earning potential; they result in a lower likelihood of unemployment; and they have a positive effect on health and wellbeing, leading to better physical health outcomes, longer life expectancy and improved social mobility.

How does the Scottish National Party Government recognise, to quote a line from its manifesto,

“the vital role of Scotland’s colleges”?

Well, there have been years of flat cash settlements, and there has been a cut to the net college resource budget of almost £59 million. There is a reported nearly £0.5 billion funding gap over three years—although the minister disputed that last week but could not say what he thinks the figure is—and the figure might well be higher due to capital costs.

That has led to Audit Scotland warning that

“Risks to the college sector’s financial sustainability have increased”

and to the Scottish Funding Council identifying three colleges with significant cash-flow issues— although, as the Public Audit Committee heard, the number is actually four. According to the SFC, that puts 21 per cent of the college workforce at risk by 2026 and, according to College Employers Scotland, it is

“directly impacting resource allocation to teaching and learning and thereby impacting learners and their educational experience.”

It is an appalling situation, but what colleges, students and employers fear the most is epitomised by the Government’s amendment, because, despite all the reports and all the warm words and praise, the Government is missing in action.

Last week, in a topical question about the state of Scotland’s colleges under the SNP, I asked how the Government’s priorities might need to change. Richard Leonard asked whether the most marginalised bear the brunt of the situation, and Pam Duncan-Glancy asked whether the Government would intervene in a dispute. In response to each question, the minister, diligently reading from a pre-prepared script, talked about Opposition parties demanding more money in the budget, but we did not.

During last night’s debate on colleges, the minister blamed Opposition parties, Brexit and the Tories, but he failed to acknowledge that the blame lies entirely with the occupants of the Government benches. My authority for that statement is the Education, Children and Young People Committee, which, in its “College regionalisation inquiry” report of March 2023, reported that it was

“concerned that colleges are currently making decisions to respond to the challenging financial climate without clear overarching strategic direction from the Scottish Government as to their purpose and what they must prioritise”.

Those colleges are still waiting.

In 2020, the Cumberford-Little report made a number of recommendations that might have begun to address the situation, and which were not based on funding. Four years on, however, there is no substantive implementation or action, except perhaps that the Government, instead of expanding the flexible workforce development fund, has abandoned it.

The Withers review reported about a year ago and made 15 recommendations to reform the post-school learning and skills landscape, but we still do not know what the Government will do or when. The national bargaining system, which is imbued with a

“debilitatingly low level of trust”,

was the subject of the Strathesk Resolutions “Lessons Learned” report, which was commissioned by the Scottish Government. Recommendations were submitted to the Scottish Government in March 2022. What has happened at Government level since? Absolutely nothing.

Under the current funding model, under which colleges cannot borrow to, for example, renew digital infrastructure in estates or retain end-of-year surpluses to mitigate the next crisis, there exists, according to the Education, Children and Young People Committee,

“a general lack of flexibility to be able to respond to economic and societal needs and priorities.”

That is why the committee recommended

“that the Scottish Government ... give colleges as many financial and operational flexibilities as possible”.

It noted that that

“could include, but not be limited to: flexibility for year end, flexibility on SFC outcomes and flexibility in terms of access to additional funds.”

That was last year. Has it happened? No.

Four years ago, the Scottish Funding Council said—