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To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to fund the £2.5 billion of infrastructure investment needs identified by the Scottish Funding Council for colleges over the next decade. (S7O-00464)
Official Report · Chamber
Colleges (Investment in Infrastructure)
General Question Time
This is the draft Official Report. The final version may differ.
Speakers
Choose an MSP to read only their contributions- Alyn Smith SNP 3
- Iris Duane Green 2
- Willie Rennie LD 1
The record
6 contributions
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I am grateful to Iris Duane for the question and for her long-standing interest in the sector. Like her, I welcome the publication of the Scottish Funding Council’s “College Infrastructure Investment Plan 2027-28 to 2036-37” report, which is important evidence that, if nothing changes, £2.5 billion will be necessary over the next 10 years to ensure that the college estate is up to scratch. That is why change is needed, and we are already working with Colleges Scotland and the SFC on the college sector of the future workstream, which looks to pave the way to a more equitable, future-proofed, empowering and financially sustainable college sector for generations to come. The plan will inform that work, and I am grateful to the Scottish Funding Council for that data, but it underlines the need for change.
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I thank the minister for his constructive response and appreciate that he is working on change. However, as he will know, colleges are facing those issues now. It has been suggested that more than £150 million of capital funding will be required for 2027-28 to begin addressing the maintenance backlog that they currently face. Does the Government recognise that investing in the infrastructure right now will prevent greater costs in future? Will the upcoming budget fully utilise the fiscal powers of devolution to address those long-term infrastructure needs?
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I am grateful, again, to Iris Duane for her interest. We have discussed this at length. Will we use the full fiscal powers available to us? Yes, we will. However, as she is well aware, we are in a financial straitjacket in relation to the devolution settlement. If a college is not undertaking basic maintenance, it is storing up problems for the longer term. The answer to everything cannot simply be more money. We need to think about purpose, then incentives, then structure. That is the work that I am taking forward, and I am very glad of her support on it.
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That all sounds great. However, the situation at Dundee and Angus College is increasingly urgent. The affected buildings at Kingsway have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete and asbestos, which means that they could be unusable by November 2028, which is just two years away. They need an answer about the first phase of their transformation programme now. When will they get that answer in order to make sure that they do not have to decant out of the Kingsway to another temporary building?
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I am aware that that is an issue that is with the Scottish Funding Council at the moment. By chance, I will be in Dundee next week, so perhaps we can liaise on that in due course.
Motions, questions and votes
Linked from this item of the Official ReportIn this meeting
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