To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report by Audit Scotland on Scotland’s colleges, which states that “colleges need more clarity from the Scottish Government on the aspects of their role to prioritise,” and that colleges are “making fundamental decisions about their future services without this clarity”. (S6O-03833)

The Audit Scotland report recognises that important opportunities are coming from the work that we are leading on post-school reform. As we progress that work, we are clear that the priorities for colleges include better alignment with local economic needs, close interaction with employers and being at the heart of skills planning in their regions. We are in on-going dialogue with the college sector about those priorities, including through the work of the tripartite alignment group, and we will continue to work with colleges to support them to maximise their impact on the economy and communities.

In the north-east, Dundee and Angus College has recently launched its sunrise solutions project to embed climate awareness in its courses. Dundee can, of course, be a centre for decommissioning. North East Scotland College is due to open its energy transition skills hub, having already introduced net zero scholarships a couple of years ago. Clearly, NESCol should play a key role in the just transition.

What is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that colleges have the strategic support and resources that they need to catalyse the transformations in our economy and society that are so desperately required?

Colleges are critical to enabling a just transition to net zero, not only as centres of teaching and training but as key community anchors. Last month, during Scotland’s climate week, I visited NESCol to celebrate its contribution to the energy sector in the north-east and the rest of Scotland, and I was briefed on the energy transition skills hub, to which Maggie Chapman referred.

Like Dundee and Angus College, NESCol is well led by a principal who is absolutely dialled in to the needs of the local and wider economy—in particular, to the just transition agenda. We are committed to doing all that we can, recognising the very challenging fiscal environment in which we are operating, to assist it in that work. We are working alongside colleges and the Scottish Funding Council to provide the strategic support that the member mentioned—for example, via work that is progressing through the tripartite alignment group—to provide greater flexibility for institutions in how they use the funding that is already available and to share best practice.

Three members have requested to ask—I hope—brief supplementary questions.

What impact have the enormous financial pressures caused by continuing United Kingdom Government austerity had on the funding that is available to support Scotland’s college sector?

I have noted before that colleges face budgetary challenges, and we cannot ignore the huge part that austerity has played in that. Given the very difficult financial position that the Government faces, I hope that Mr Beattie will recognise the fact that the Scottish Government’s budget for 2024-25 provides colleges with the same resources as were available in 2023-24, which is a clear demonstration of the Government’s commitment to our colleges.

As I said, we are working closely with Colleges Scotland and the Funding Council via the tripartite group to put to best use the resources that are at our disposal, in line with individual college priorities and the needs of local economies.

Of course, the unknown in all of this is whether the coming UK Government budget will present further budgetary challenges for this Government and our colleges.

Notwithstanding what we have just heard, the SFC published its final funding allocation in May 2024. We saw the axing of the flexible workforce development fund, the absence of funding to address digital poverty and the coming to an end of mental health funding. In the context of a £32 million cut to the resource budget, an underlying deficit of £70 million and four colleges having significant cash-flow issues, is the Government content for a college to fall over before it provides proper support and sustainable funding?

Through the Scottish Funding Council, the Government works incredibly closely with our colleges. When issues that are identified come to the fore, they are responded to.

I am disappointed that Liam Kerr is leaving his role as education spokesperson. I have very much enjoyed our exchanges. He has listed all the issues that colleges face, but I ask him gently where his self-awareness is in all of that. Where is the recognition that the actions of his former Government at Westminster are at the heart of the problems that we all face?

The minister has talked about the importance of the post-school aspect of colleges, but the cabinet secretary has just spoken about rationalisation and, rightly, mentioned the important role that colleges have in that. Can colleges prioritise their role in the senior phase? How can they do that without investment from the Scottish Government?

The member will be aware of the school-college partnerships that can be, and are being, deployed quite effectively. He is absolutely right to highlight the prioritisation issue, which is one of the aspects that we are considering with colleges. If they choose to prioritise in that space, I want to give them the flexibility to do so.