6. To ask the First Minister what the impact would be on redevelopment plans for universities, following its decision to ask the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council to pay back £50 million. (S5F-00810)

There is no impact on our commitments to colleges and universities. The underspend was primarily due to the difference between academic and financial years, and it was recouped only on the basis of explicit assurances from the Scottish funding council that all financial commitments made to universities and colleges had been met.

Last month at the Education and Skills Committee

, John Swinney said that all

“the financial commitments ... to universities and colleges had been met in full”.—[

Official Report

,

Education and Skills Committee

, 21 December 2016; c 28.]

However, we have learned this week that projects to develop the Hamilton campus of the University of the West of Scotland and the Crichton campus of Scotland’s Rural College were thrown into jeopardy as a result of that clawback. Why did the First Minister’s deputy fail to mention those two projects, which were shelved as a result of that decision? At a time when universities describe their funding package as “unsustainable”, why did the Scottish Government take that money out of the university system?

The First Minister:

I have already explained the reason for the underspend, and I do not think that the member’s characterisation of those capital projects is correct. The Scottish funding council will talk to colleges on an on-going basis about their planned capital investments. For example, the Hamilton campus project is taking its course, and I hope to see it progress. I repeat what I said earlier, which is indeed what the education secretary said to Parliament in committee: there were no changes to the planned allocation of funding to universities or colleges, so no institution has lost out as a result. I hope that that reassurance is welcome to members.

The First Minister has just been made aware of Labour’s shameful attempts to link the UWS Lanarkshire campus, which is currently in Hamilton, to the issue. Although I am saddened that the campus will not continue at the historic current site in the town centre, does the First Minister agree that the solution that UWS has arrived at—to build a brand new state-of-the-art eco-campus at Hamilton technology park—will accommodate more students and potentially more teaching staff and has the potential to bring substantial economic and social benefits to Hamilton? Although the support and advice provided by the Scottish funding council throughout the process have been most welcome, should capital funding be required to complete the project, might the First Minister consider that favourably?

The First Minister:

Christina McKelvie has just underlined the point that I made, which is that the Hamilton campus project is in train and discussions are on-going between the Scottish funding council and the university. I am pleased that UWS will be developing the new campus, because it brings the potential benefits that Christina McKelvie highlighted, particularly for young people in her Constituency. As I have said before, the funding council has been fully involved to date and I expect that support to continue as the project develops to ensure that it is realised.

The financial report to the Scottish funding council board dated 21 February 2014 confirms that the Scottish Government advised the Scottish funding council not to apply any of the £50 million of funds. However, beyond that point, until 2 October 2014, when the Scottish Government issued further confirmation that it wanted the money back, the Scottish funding council was discussing with individual institutions how to spend the money. Who is responsible for that gross mismanagement?

The First Minister:

As I understand it, the Scottish funding council knew throughout that the money was to be returned to the Scottish Government. As I said in my previous answer, the decision to do that did not affect the planned allocation of funding to universities or colleges.

The Government will continue to ensure that we give fair funding settlements to our universities and colleges. I said in an earlier answer that the budget that is currently before the Parliament proposes an increase in investment in our colleges of around £20 million in resource funding and another £20 million in capital funding.

Throughout the lifetime of this Government I think that we have invested in the region of half a billion pounds in modernising our college estate. We have brand new college campuses in Glasgow—one of those, the Riverside campus, is in my Constituency; I opened the new Ayrshire College campus in Kilmarnock just a matter of weeks ago; and there is a new college campus in Inverness. The evidence speaks for itself on the investment that this Government makes in our colleges and universities sector.