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My reading is that it would depend on the nature of the data sharing involved.

But there are restrictions on that. My understanding is that people, institutions and organisations can share information with the Government, but there might be an issue with regard to whom the Government can then share that data with. It is a complex landscape—frustratingly so in an instance such as this, in which we all know what we would like to do.

Indeed. That is why we are looking at a basket of measures. The forum has opened the opportunity for everyone to throw in their ideas from an informed position, and we have had additional input, including from Liam McArthur, relating to rural areas.

Following the experience of the past nine years, we understand better the areas in which the approach has gaps. The question is now how we address them. Data sharing is part of that, but there is more to it. In order to capture more students, some universities use contextual admission policies, but others do not share that practice, which is particularly troubling in rural areas. What do we do in that space? I absolutely get the issue. I offer you the reassurance that we are now much more alive to the full range of challenges and are intent on addressing them.

Yes, but you will appreciate that, when a report is presented, we take time to analyse it and come to some conclusions. We ran into the purdah period and the recess period. As soon as the parliamentary recess was concluded, we responded to the report.

We have to strike a balance in the budget. There are a lot of competing demands, in education and more widely. I do not mean to be flippant but, if you have a proposal that involves putting more money into capital for colleges, you are perfectly at liberty to bring that forward in the context of the budget.

We have made it clear to the SFC that we expect part of the additional funding that has gone to universities to be used to enhance the student experience. That would partly cover what you have alluded to.

I join you in paying tribute to the universities, because the progress that we have made in widening access is overwhelmingly down to them, as a sector. They have done some fantastic stuff and you are right to note that it is not just the modern universities that have done that.

The biggest impediment to reaching the next target is not the amount of money but the ability to get to all the students who could be captured by the policy. The well-intentioned legislation that was passed by the Parliament has worked well to a point, but we need to go beyond that.

Next week—I think—I will chair a meeting with the stakeholder group on widening access to look at what more we can do. In the short term, we are running a pilot in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to look at data on free school meals. There is a data-sharing problem in Scotland that is holding us back.

We are looking into what more we can do to support our universities on the journey, because we must enable them to achieve the target. We are also looking into what we need to do in the longer term. As I say, in this instance, it is not so much about the amount of money as it is about how we enable the universities to achieve their targets.

To put it simply, the funds that are generated by that amount remaining in the centre, coupled with another uplift that the Government has delivered, delivers 3.5 per cent in total.

Context is everything. The position that Colleges Scotland adopted at the outset was to make a budget ask that many people would have considered unrealistic by any judgment. The capital ask represented 178 per cent of the overall capital budget at our disposal, and there was also a very significant increase in the revenue ask. Because that was their starting position, colleges will regard the settlement as falling somewhat short of that, but we should look at the trend in college funding. I recognise that the colleges are right to ask for as much as they hope to get, but the trend shows that the funding for colleges in 2025-26 is £50 million more than it was in 2019-20.

We all know that, at one point, inflation peaked at 10 per cent, so we recognise the challenges there. However, it is important to see the budget sitting alongside the other work that is going on with colleges, which would be acknowledged by individual colleges if they were sitting here today. There is the work of the tripartite group, which is developing those flexibilities.

On the context of the asks that the sector makes, there was, for example, an issue around the application of maintenance, which we have responded to for 2024-25, and we are looking to do the same for 2025-26. That has made a significant difference operationally for individual colleges.

I recognise that we are focusing on the budget, but I stress the need to look at the work that is being done in parallel, such as the work on asset disposal and the on-going work to broaden the flexibilities to allow individual colleges to better respond to their local economic needs.

I am a huge fan of programmes such as Career Ready, which many members will have come across, that involves people who have been successful in their careers giving back through a mentoring programme to support young people. It is quite a moving experience to visit some of those programmes—it is amazing to see what is happening. I am really keen that we maximise our support for that work. As part of our mapping exercise, we will look at where that sits with the developing the young workforce programme and some of the programmes within that. I want to ensure that we are providing a safety net, if you like, for young people and a real and meaningful opportunity for those who have not necessarily prospered in traditional education settings.

I absolutely take on board the point about the involvement of the trade unions and engagement with their reps being more than lip service. We expect the trade unions to be actively involved in the recovery process and I will reinforce that with the SFC.

On your point about winning back trust, it is perfectly understandable, given what has happened, that the staff lack trust and have the concerns that they have. I cannot sit here and say that the Government has a role in rebuilding, but the role of the SFC here is important. It is not just about providing assistance; it is also about oversight. If the SFC identifies issues that cause it concern, it will be a matter for it to address them using its existing powers. However, we cannot always fix things retrospectively so, if there are lessons to take from the situation in the context of the wider sector—the whole of HE and FE—we will take them. I give you that undertaking.

I am happy to work with the committee and other members if lessons come out of the situation and something needs to be done regarding governance or the use of existing powers, more powers or the power of intervention. To be fair to the SFC, until we become aware of a problem, it is difficult to know what we would be intervening on. Please accept my assurance that we are all over this.