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I would ask you to take away a slightly expanded commitment to look seriously at the issue. You have talked about the values and priorities of the Scottish Government, one of them being fairness. Given that those organisations are delivering such important community cohesion work—never mind the nuts and bolts of the remit of this committee, which is equalities and human rights—making such a commitment would be very valuable.

I move to my final question on this area. You have talked about the certainty of funding and the importance of multiyear funding. I think that it is good and very positive that we have seen that shift, so thank you for that. That will give a lot of people the security that you talked about.

However, some people still feel quite vulnerable. Perhaps another fund—the investing in communities fund—can help deliver important community cohesion and anti-poverty work as well. On 7 January, I wrote to you about that fund. Last week, Richard Lochhead provided some comfort about it in the chamber, but organisations still do not have the detail. A line in a letter that says, “There will be some funding for some organisations up to the next financial year,” is not enough for them to not enter into redundancy conversations with staff. Therefore, can there be clarity, sooner rather than later, on what that means? That would give the certainty that you were talking about, because the fund does not have multiyear security.

I appreciate everything that you have said, but the evidence that we collected from CARM members suggests that there has not been the positive outcome that you have described. You said that you have commissioned more research, which is to be completed by the summer, but there is already lots of evidence and information out there, including the evidence that the committee has gathered over the past four and a half years in relation to our approach to equalities and human rights budgeting. There is a degree of frustration about the Government gathering more research instead of getting on with changing things for the better, particularly by joining things up. We can have the best employability service in the world but, if someone cannot afford the bus to get there, it is no good to them.

Lots of different things go into this, and I appreciate that it is a work in progress, but I think that the committee should, in the future, hear from the Government about the direct read-through of the project that we have undertaken with CARM and how that has a material impact on the Government’s decision making.

Good morning, minister. Thanks for joining us this morning. My question is not on the detail of the instruments before us but on the consequences. Given what you said in response to Tess White and Rhoda Grant, and given that everyone would have liked us to have made more comprehensive progress on legal aid reform during this parliamentary term, it would be useful if, before the end of this session, the Government could set out what is happening and what remains to be done. We know that we will need legislation, but there are other things that will not require legislation that we perhaps could be getting on with, some of which we are getting on with already. It would be valuable to have all of that brought together.

What you have just said about the fee review group and the trainee places is positive news, but I am concerned about the possibility that, because we do not have a chunk of time to spend on this as we would in a bill process, the piecemeal bits might not all end up fitting together effectively.

I would like an initial response from you on that, but I am really just making a request for the Government to set out what is happening, what remains to be done and how everything will pull together.

A couple of you have mentioned engagement with the student associations. In your view, how does university management treat the students? Are they given fair opportunities to engage in decision making in the governance structures? I know that there are formal positions for student reps in the court and so on, but are the students actually listened to?

That point was worth highlighting so thank you for that.

Sophia, you talked about postgrad tutors. What about other groups of students? I am thinking about the university’s ethical obligations towards international students. Are you seeing radical changes to the promises that were made to those students or the conditions that they were offered in coming to study here? Have they changed radically? Does any of you have any comments about the impacts on international students in particular?

Does anyone else want to bring in any other mechanisms? I understand the challenge and that you do not want to be responsible for a cut to funding, but what other levers or sticks do we have to ensure that management follows the principles that it is supposed to follow?

This is my last question on this. What important preparatory work needs to be done between now and April 2027 to make sure that, when the principles come in, everybody knows what they are, and they are ready to implement, record and monitor them? Other than proper engagement with the unions, what would be your wishes in this space?

I appreciate that I have had quite a lot of time already, but I would like to pick up on some of the points about the Gillies review.

We have spoken about organisational culture and issues of governance and financial management. If an organisational culture is wrong, all the money you want and the best governance structures will not actually lead to outcomes. The Gillies report highlighted that governance frameworks were fit for purpose but that institutions failed to operate them effectively.

My last question is on culture and value. What are universities for? How do we make sure that the value of education is seen as the core principle that drives everybody, from the very top of the university right through the staff structures and students? How do we ensure that the value of education is what matters? Without that key point from Gillies, we are basically just talking round the houses about the issues. A couple of you have said that we will be back here in three or four years’ time.

Thank you.