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I have been clear that, when that Audit Scotland report came out, we accepted it. It is thorough analysis that has been done by professional people. However, we cannot go backwards. We must go forwards.

There is a period of years. I know that you are looking for a “got you” moment, but this is not—

The first point to emphasise is that the SFC is working with the sector on a 10-year college infrastructure investment plan, which is due in autumn of this year. It is important to emphasise that it is a collegiate and collaborative process with the sector and the different colleges. That is being supported by the Scottish Futures Trust, as you would expect.

That strategic work has already started and will continue in the weeks and months ahead. Through that, the SFC continues to work closely with colleges, including Dundee and Angus College. I know that the committee is aware of the challenges that it is experiencing with regard to its estate. I had a good meeting with the principal and the chair on their issues, and they shared their plans and concerns with the Government and, crucially, the SFC.

In the progress that the SFC is undertaking on its infrastructure investment plan, it will consider all those matters and the options to help colleges meet their local priorities. You may want to engage further with the SFC as those considerations develop, but it is important that that work is undertaken so that the SFC can look at the allocation of resource across all the different colleges, because it is the SFC that allocates the resource, not Scottish ministers.

Yes, and of course that is the provision in this financial year to go towards the investment plan. However, I predict that the investment plan will include projects that will span across financial years. I point that out for clarity and completeness.

It is also important to emphasise that, in the financial year that we are still in, and in financial years past, there has of course been capital investment in the college sector. There was discussion earlier about the new campus in Dunfermline that Fife College has opened. Although there are absolutely challenges with RAAC and maintenance and repair—I am in no way not cognisant of those—there are a lot of good buildings and a lot of good college campuses across the country that are great places to learn and be in. It is important to be balanced.

Thank you. I appreciate that I cannot speak directly to years past on the previous fund, but, as the cabinet secretary has emphasised, there is an expectation that this uplifting resource will create not just an alleviation of some of the pressure, but an opportunity for progress. The anticipation, determination and ambition come not only from ministers, as that view is also regularly relayed to me by principals. There is strong determination among many of the principals that we engage with, and they are excited to drive the process of making necessary changes and taking the sector forward.

That is why we really want to get moving on the piece of work that I talked about in response to Willie Rennie a moment ago on how we progress the tripartite engagement into a formal process of considering sustainability and the future. That will empower our sector to take forward what it wants to do.

This is an exciting time. There are a lot of ideas, a lot of innovation, a lot of creativity and, obviously, a lot of passion in the sector, and we want to support it as it continues to develop its institutions to meet the needs of learners and the economy in the 21st century.

I refer you to the letter that I sent to the committee, which details the agreements that we came to in our discussions in the chamber. As far as the legislation is concerned, as I think I said yesterday, the ink is still drying.

We are now entering the very important implementation stage and, in the days ahead, I will be engaging with the SFC, as I do regularly. I will be discussing a number of things with it, including the fair work agreements that we have come to, and we would expect what has been decided to be taken forward.

I know that many members—Ross Greer, in particular—have an interest in this, and I am happy to keep them updated. I know, too, that officials have engaged with the SFC in recent days. I am not sure whether Shirley Laing has anything to add on that.

Every area of skills is on my radar, but other ministers are also engaged with skills considerations for their particular portfolios. The provision of skills and higher and further education overlap across all policy areas; medicine, engineering and other aspects of skills provision are all of interest and concern. I will consider the point further, so thank you for raising it, convener.

Just to build on that, I would say that all education spending is, arguably, preventative spending, in the way that my ministerial colleagues have set out. Indeed, the significant additional investment that we are putting into colleges will have a preventative impact later in a person’s life, and the long-standing commitment to funding people through university and the support through apprenticeships will have impacts, too. Similarly, it is hard to quantify the reduction in pressures on the criminal justice system or the health system as a result of people going to work and flourishing, and thereby not, one might argue, needing the healthcare provision that they might have needed had they not been successful in that way.

It is such an important point. The more the education system thrives and delivers, the more it will certainly reduce pressures elsewhere.

What is productive is thinking about how, together, we can ensure that our colleges have the resource and the forums to enable them to undertake the innovation that they, and we, want and that is in the common good. The budget is an increase, and the Government has arrived at that because we want to support our college sector. That has always been the case through all the years that the Government has been in power. I am sure that other Governments would want to support our college sector, too, because that is in the common interest.

The importance of making the additional investment is built on the dialogue that we have had in the Parliament. Obviously, the committee has played a role in that, for which I commend it, as have the stakeholders. There is now an interesting and important opportunity to collaborate and make progress. This is a really positive time.

So there is—