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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 20 August 2025
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Displaying 1198 contributions

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Education, Children and Young People Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Education Reform

Meeting date: 17 January 2024

Liam Kerr

I will be very brief, convener.

There is no doubt that we agree on the importance of colleges and the need for support, but the further education sector is still unclear about how much funding it might have for the coming year, and yesterday the finance secretary was unable to say when it might know that. Does the cabinet secretary have any idea when the sector will have that clarity, given that it will obviously need to make plans for the coming year?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Education Reform

Meeting date: 17 January 2024

Liam Kerr

Do you have a ballpark estimate as to when the SFC might decide?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Education Reform

Meeting date: 17 January 2024

Liam Kerr

Forgive me, cabinet secretary. There are various bodies and various people involved in developing what the operating model of a new qualifications agency might look like. Is the SQA also involved in developing that new model?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Education Reform

Meeting date: 17 January 2024

Liam Kerr

Many people would characterise a cut of 拢28.5 million, or 6 per cent, as being swingeing, so we clearly differ on that.

Does the cabinet secretary get involved in considerations of the economic and future workforce impact鈥攂oth during their education and later鈥攐f anything from 1,200 to 3,800 students leaving Scotland to study elsewhere?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Education Reform

Meeting date: 17 January 2024

Liam Kerr

Quel dommage. [Laughter.]

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Education Reform

Meeting date: 17 January 2024

Liam Kerr

On a similar note, the consultation on the education bill that will abolish and replace the SQA closed in December. The Scottish Government previously announced that an SQA replacement would be in place by 2025. Is the work on curriculum and assessment reform that we have discussed today dependent on reform of the SQA? If so, what are the timescales?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Post-school Education and Skills Reform

Meeting date: 10 January 2024

Liam Kerr

The subject of funding was brought up earlier and I have a specific question about college funding. The Auditor General for Scotland recently told the Public Audit Committee

鈥淭he viability of the college sector is challenged ... in order to address that challenge, the Government and the Funding Council need to have a clear plan for what the future model of provision looks like.鈥濃擺Official Report, Public Audit Committee, 26 October 2023; c 4.]

Will there be such a plan? If so, when?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Post-school Education and Skills Reform

Meeting date: 10 January 2024

Liam Kerr

I will carry on. You talked about colleges becoming sustainable and perhaps becoming more specialised鈥擨 am paraphrasing entirely. James Withers told the committee that the college sector is a

鈥渂urning platform in relation to finance and sustainability.鈥濃擺Official Report, Education, Children and Young People Committee, 15 November 2023; c 49.]

He was worried that there might be a more chaotic reorganisation of the sector based on the law of natural selection. You have obviously painted a very different picture, which is much more drawn out and more managed, but is James Withers right to be concerned? How can you reassure us that such a chaotic reorganisation is not in the offing?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Post-school Education and Skills Reform

Meeting date: 10 January 2024

Liam Kerr

Finally, you talked about an opportunity to move quickly, and it sounds like there is that need. Strathesk Re:solution鈥檚 lessons learned report, which was commissioned by the Scottish Government, on national collective bargaining in colleges was released on 25 March 2022. When do you expect to publish a plan to take forward the recommendations that were in that report?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Post-school Education and Skills Reform

Meeting date: 10 January 2024

Liam Kerr

That is right.