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I did, and I appreciated the dialogue in the chamber, convener. I hope that you will forgive me, but we have not had a huge amount of time between that debate and today’s appearance at the committee. I undertook to look at the matter afresh, and I reaffirm that commitment today. I will update the committee as soon as I have details to share.

On our engagement with universities and the Parliament, Mr Briggs will recall Martin Whitfield’s topical question about the University of Edinburgh that I answered a number of weeks ago. I will repeat the main points that I made in my answer that are relevant to all our universities. Although they are autonomous institutions that are responsible for operational decision making, we strongly encourage them to engage constructively with trade unions to seek resolutions to the disputes, in line with fair work principles, as has been raised today. I would also emphasise that compulsory redundancies should be considered only as a last resort, after all other cost-saving measures have been fully explored—that is absolutely the key point.

We recognise the financial challenge that our universities—indeed, universities across the UK—face, but they are important employers and are hugely important to the economy, and the staff at universities are key to teaching and research. It is the people who make the organisations, and we will continue to engage with the universities, as autonomous institutions, on these points. We will also need to engage with the unions, and I am grateful for the engagement that I have had with them in recent weeks.

First of all, you will appreciate that an amendment in your name to the Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill that relates to your latter point was accepted at stage 2. I cite that as a point of reference for how we are moving forward on consideration of the credit system.

I have also had significant engagement with the college sector, including on those points. Perhaps of most interest to Mr Briggs will be for me to note that I visited Edinburgh College in Granton, where I attended an hour of the Scottish Funding Council’s board meeting; I also took the opportunity to meet the college principal and discuss those matters. That is in addition to my engagement on those points with Ayrshire College on its campus; at the College Development Network awards, at which I spoke with various stakeholders from the college sector; and during other engagements, such as with Glasgow Kelvin College, which was early after my appointment.

I appreciate the points about consideration of the credit system. Presuming that the bill will be passed early in the new year—I look forward to Mr Briggs voting for it, now that he has secured that amendment—we will proceed with that review.

The wider budget considerations have been very much in the public and parliamentary domain since my appointment on 23 September, with the SFC report coming out during the same week and the Audit Scotland report coming out the week after. As I said, I have had significant engagement with individual colleges—some of which I cited—as well as regular engagement with Colleges Scotland, as has the cabinet secretary, including in recent weeks. Concerns, considerations, ideas and proposals from the sector have been and are being given due consideration as we work through the budget considerations.

Cabinet secretary, would you like to say any more?

Thank you for raising the issue, which you previously raised on 1 October, when I last attended the committee. Beyond what I have done in the past few months, I am keen to engage with as many colleges and universities as I can in the new year. I have had helpful correspondence with UHI in the past few months since my appointment on 23 September. Unfortunately, because of parliamentary business and other commitments, I have not had the capacity to engage fully with all parties involved in this matter. However, I hope that you can take it in good faith that I want to do that in the new year. I will seek to engage with you personally as a member with an interest in the issue, and more widely with the committee, too, if that is helpful. I do not have anything to add beyond what I said on 1 October, which, in the interest of time, I do not think is worth stating again.

I would be interested to hear those perspectives, if it is practical. I have sought to engage as widely as I could since I was appointed on 23 September, and it is important for all of us in politics to hear different perspectives and perceptions. I would certainly be interested in that.

First of all, we should never have left Erasmus+. That was very clear. I was minister for Europe for 18 months, and I and the current cabinet secretary who followed me have had multiple meetings with UK Government ministers, at which we and representatives of the other devolved Administrations stated that it made no sense economically, socially or otherwise for us to leave the Erasmus+ scheme. The UK coming out of the Erasmus+ scheme was literally a waste of time. However, we welcome the news that we are back in.

The Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture had a call with UK ministers this morning. We are awaiting more details regarding how the new arrangements will apply to Scotland, and the UK Government needs to be forthcoming and provide us with more information. However, the move is welcome, of course. It is a positive thing.

Did the member want to ask anything specific about the Scottish education exchange programme?

I commend the committee for its work on widening access, which was discussed in the recent debate in Parliament. We discussed a number of points, including the positive progress that has been made towards meeting the widening access targets and the 37 per cent increase in the number of Scots from deprived areas who entered full-time degree courses at university in 2023-24. That is a 37 per cent increase since the Government established the commission on widening access, and it is obviously significant progress. The continued provision of free tuition for Scots-domiciled people who go to university and into state-funded education is a collective investment in our people and workforce, and it continues to encourage people to go to university on the basis of their ability to learn and not their ability to pay.

I caution Mr Briggs and the committee more widely against getting ahead of the announcement that the Government will make very soon on the sustainability work. I am mindful of the fact that we are working collaboratively and in sync with Universities Scotland and others. It is important that we respect all partners in the process. If the Parliament and the committee can be patient, there will be an update on that work very soon.

I am sorry—I misinterpreted that.

In order for our country to realise and make the most of economic growth and collective reward, while also creating opportunities, reducing poverty and allowing learners to progress in areas where we have significant comparative advantage, such as offshore wind—or aerospace, an area where I have seen real galvanisation at first hand in Ayrshire in the west of Scotland—we want to support skills development in areas where there is clear growth in opportunities and demand for skills. We want to do that with our partners in universities, colleges and employers.

That is why implementation of the TET bill will be helpful. It will bring everything under one funding body and create agility and a modernised approach that will allow for creativity and for funding to be utilised to best effect in the most efficient way. Discussion around regional priorities both within the education directorate with regard to funding and with educational institutions is absolutely pertinent, and we are constructively and collaboratively engaged in that. In the economy space, we are working with employers to make sure that we realise the significant potential for economic growth.

I will ask Adam Reid to say more on skills development.