Part of Urgent Question – in the Scottish Parliament at 4:43 pm on 2 October 2025.
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Labour
4:43,
2 October 2025
It is important to remind members and those watching, particularly colleges and students, that the Minister can reiterate the 2 per cent increase as often as he likes, but it is false. Audit Scotland has said that colleges have had a 20 per cent cut in the past five years.
I also remind the minister that the UK Government has given the Scottish Government the largest settlement since devolution, yet for years colleges have been sounding alarm bells and telling ministers that there is no coherence in the system or linking of provision of education to the jobs and skills that our economy needs, but the minister still blames other people. These vital institutions have been left without leadership from their Government and, in the vacuum, colleges have had to struggle on themselves. That is not how a national skills system is supposed to be run. If everyone else can see how valuable colleges really are, why can his Government not? What will he urgently do to prove to the colleges that he is not going to blame someone else and that he is going to take responsibility?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
