Seòmar agus comataidhean

That is a totally fair question, but I ask Parliament to give me some time. I say this in good faith: one thing that I was really determined to emphasise in my opening statement last week, and which I added to the draft myself, was that I want to be clear that, although there is an on-going primary legislation process, I also want to do what I can, while I am charged with this responsibility, to advance skills in planning and the skills agenda in ways that do not require legislative change.

I thank Mr Greer for what is, as always, an interesting question.

On the one hand, our universities receive significant amounts of public money through the SFC. On the other, they are independent institutions, and it is proper for the Government to respect that. I think that the position is adequate at the moment, but I thank the member for raising the matter.

I appreciate the points that have been raised, and I will reflect on them.

I will not speculate on board discussions that I was not part of or in the room to hear.

This is the situation that I was alluding to. I appreciate Parliament’s focus on the matter as a result of reports that were published and put into the public domain on Friday. However, it is a matter that has been under almost constant discussion for ministers, including my predecessor. Ministers are, all the time, across the question of how we support our colleges.

There is a live discussion about a specific figure. We are seeking advice from the SFC on a range of matters, including support for our colleges. In this post, I look forward to engaging with our college sector through Colleges Scotland, which is the body that represents them. I also look forward to engaging with individual institutions in the period ahead.

I and other education ministers will be arguing for our portfolio, and there is a shared interest across the Scottish Government for education to thrive, not just for—although most importantly for—the benefit of the people whom we all serve, but, crucially, to ensure that we fulfil the economic potential and bring forward all the positive impacts that that can have.

You asked how we are going to work collaboratively with the colleges and step into the future and the next chapter together. I am extremely passionate about that, and I want to really focus on that, in my role, in the period between now and the election.

There is—it is cited in members’ papers for today’s meeting—quite a well-developed position with the universities with regard to how they want, collectively, to think about sustainability for the future and work together on what needs to change and how the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Government and the sector can work collaboratively.

I would really love to establish that with the college sector. It is about my not only working with the body—Colleges Scotland—but engaging with individual institutions. A great—or significant—number of those institutions have written to me in the past week, as the committee would expect. I look forward to engaging with several of them, as much as capacity will allow, once I am not doing parliamentary business every day—as has been the case since last Tuesday, pretty much.

I am sorry—I cannot hear your question, because of what is happening behind me.

There is, of course, our approach to tuition, which means that the majority of Scottish-domiciled students, either in further or higher education, do not leave university with any personal debt for fees. As the member knows, that has been the Government’s position since it took office; it was a key policy that was delivered and which has been sustained. What that means—and there is survey evidence on this—is that individuals do not have to bring into their consideration or personal analysis of whether university or further education is the right option for them the question whether they will accumulate debt for fees as a result. That is very important.

As for student support, I mentioned in my opening statement that the position here is better, too. Average loan debts for Scottish students are the lowest in the UK; indeed, they are more than £35,000 lower than the average for students from England.

As I said to the Parliament yesterday, the Scottish Government will discuss all issues relating to sustainable funding in the round, except for the introduction of up-front tuition fees as were in place previously under the Scottish executive. We will not discuss the possibility of reintroducing tuition fees. My personal view is that tuition fees have been a bit of a red herring. If tuition fees are a panacea, why are we seeing such difficulties with institutions south of the border, where fees are over £9,000 a year? Unless people are arguing for tuition fees to be higher than £9,000 a year—I think £9,000 is too high, so any higher would certainly be too high—introducing tuition fees cannot be a sustainable funding solution for our institutions. I want to continue the good-faith discussions on sustainable funding, but the Scottish Government is clear that, as long as we are charged by the people of Scotland to be in Government, tuition fees will not be introduced.

As I hope I have emphasised so far, I want to work in lockstep with the sector on the challenges. As you alluded to, Mr Rennie, the situation to date is that my predecessor brought Government, colleges, universities and the SFC around the table to discuss new ways to tackle the challenges. I want to build on that approach. That work will need to include considerations about how we adapt, reform, deliver efficiency, and, most importantly, serve learners. That has been a key area of focus for me with the university sector, and, as I emphasised, I would like to build on the precedent set with the universities to do the same with colleges. I will be seeking to achieve that. I will set out more in the next few weeks about how we will continue to work with the university sector on a new vision for Scotland’s universities. If you can give me time, I would like to set that out in due course.