Meeting of the Parliament 04 December 2025
It is a pleasure to wind up for Scottish Labour. I thank Professor John McKendrick for the work that he has done on widening access to date and for allowing the committee access to his expertise in it.
I have enjoyed hearing members talk about the brilliant educational institutions that we have in Scotland and their experiences in accessing them. I look back with fondness on my time at Telford College, and studying in the evenings for a level 1 counselling course. I have fond memories of doing that part time and with colleagues from the workplace. I also look back on studying for my honours and masters degrees at the University of Stirling as one of the most formative experiences of my life, including when I first dipped my toe into politics—others can determine how successful that was—and to my time studying a postgraduate diploma at Glasgow Caledonian University as the first student on the university’s human rights course to combine work and study.
I use those examples to show the rich tapestry of options that are delivered in Scotland, options that provide unimaginable opportunities for people such as me. My family—like Stephen Kerr’s, it sounds like—pushed me to reach for those opportunities in the interest of fulfilling potential. It is clear from the strength of feeling across the chamber that that experience is shared. So, too, is the ambition to widen access to it.
I particularly welcome the recognition of the doors that access to education can open to enable everyone in Scotland to live up to their potential. Many members from all parties have recognised that, including Jamie Hepburn, Brian Whittle, Bill Kidd and George Adam. That is why this inquiry has been so important.
However, as members and the committee have set out, progress has been far too slow. I say gently to George Adam that that is the reality. The incredible work that many people do is not diminished, just because we recognise challenges. We are not being overly gloomy—it is just a reality check. We know that challenges can be overcome only if we accept the reality in the first place, but I am not sure that the Government has always got that fact.
As Douglas Ross reminded us, the committee considered the issue nearly 10 years on from the commissioner’s first report, but much is still outstanding. The unique learner number is just one example of an issue on which the Government has failed to act. It has had 10 years and multiple opportunities to introduce the measure, including in the Education (Scotland) Bill earlier this year, but it rejected amendments from Scottish Labour and others to do so. I encourage the Government to move on it quickly; if it does not, another Government should.
I am afraid that the Government’s inaction goes beyond that key factor, which could improve widening access, as Martin Whitfield and others have set out. The minister has set out that it is a Government priority to widen access and deliver parity of esteem; however, that is hard to square with the extent of the failure to recognise the system’s shortcomings, including those relating to the importance of the sector being match fit and the role of support for students in widening access, about which we have heard precious little from the Government.
The minister spoke of successes, and there have been some, thanks to the sector moving mountains. Just for comparison, though, the proportion of applicants from the most deprived quintile accepted into Scottish universities in 2023 was 72 per cent compared to 78 per cent in other parts of the UK. We have challenges, and there are others from whom we can learn.