Meeting of the Parliament 04 December 2025
Capping potential is something that any member in this chamber must seek to remove. It is important that people can get to university through potential and drive alone. That can be achieved only if universities and colleges across the sector have the support of their Government and others to make it happen.
In that respect, we have a long way to go. There are 1,200 fewer places available in further and higher education institutions as a result of the Government taking them away after Covid, and that will have an impact on students from the poorest backgrounds. That is exactly the point that I think Stephen Kerr has highlighted, and it can have serious impact on educational and equal opportunities.
The minister spoke of success and, as I have said, there has been some. However, although universities and colleges are working their socks off to support all who have the grades to enter them, they are doing so against the tide of cuts and a lack of priority. We have heard nothing about that from the minister. The minister also failed to mention that, according to the data, fewer people from disadvantaged backgrounds had applications accepted in 2023 than in 2022, and retention rates have been beginning to fall since 2021. The effect of that is more pronounced for students from the most deprived backgrounds than for those from the least deprived quintile. Again, we heard little about that.
On the unique learning number, the minister’s response that it is complicated is not good enough. This Government has had 10 years since the recommendation was made, and it is still saying that it is complicated. I agree with Willie Rennie that the Government should either get on with it, or say that it does not want to do it or does not agree with it, so that others can come forward with other suggestions or ways of making it happen.
We have heard nothing from the Government, either, on support for students. I got to university only because of the support of the disabled students allowance and an army of brilliant advisers. That system has broken down, and advisers are struggling against cuts. As Maggie Chapman set out, students face significant barriers and action on dealing with them is long overdue.
In the past hour, I have been reflecting on the minister’s response to that—and I have to say that I do not think that it is good enough to come to the chamber to talk about widening access and provide no update on a review that came about only after it was pointed out that the last review had resulted in years of inertia. I hope that the minister will give an update on it sooner rather than later.
It is also not enough simply to say what should happen or that widening access matters and that the recommendations are helpful. People need to see policy decisions and actions that support our ambitions and meet the targets, and we expected to hear a bit more from the Government today about how that will happen and what that action would look like.
The committee’s report was firm; it was stark; and it oozed with the frustration that we had heard from witnesses. However, that frustration will not have been assuaged today. We have heard nothing from the Government about the school-college partnerships, learner numbers, the review on student support or addressing the crisis in colleges.
I said in my opening speech that, without action, rhetoric on widening access will ring hollow. It might well ring hollow without a response from the Government that meets the challenge raised in the committee’s report.
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