Chamber and committees

Those questions are already being asked by nursing unions, local government and many people on the front line, but no doubt we will come to that as we move to stage 1 of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill.

I go back to seek some clarity about the education situation. Again, the education budget is crucial in improving skills and addressing economic inactivity. Mr Marra quoted from your budget, which says:

“additional savings are to be made in the HE sector, including from reducing first year university places”.

He asked you how many places would be removed, and he offered the view, using the Government’s own statistics—I think that I am correct in saying—that the figure might be 3,700. Can you clarify that that number is likely to be the result of the decision from the Government and the Scottish Funding Council?

There will be a reduction.

What do you expect to happen with regard to universities offering places to foreign students? Will that number increase?

I was not asking about that. I was just asking whether you are going to review the whole process of higher education funding, because I think that the budget has clarified some of the difficulties that we will be facing in the future.

I will finish on another point of clarification. We have had various discussions about how the Government models behavioural change when it comes to tax, which is an issue that is bothering many people in the business community. We have discussed statistics that have come from the Fraser of Allander Institute and the Scottish Parliament information centre. The convener gave you some statistics earlier. For example, the economists are saying that, for those with incomes over £125,000, the behavioural change might involve as little as £8 million. For those with incomes between £75,000 and £125,000, the behavioural change might be about £74 million. Are those the numbers that the Scottish Government’s analysis arrived at?

It is a very helpful answer, and I think that it ties in largely with the feelings of a lot of members of this committee.

It is obvious that the SPCB has a limited role, as you rightly say, to enact the will of Parliament, and it is not for you to make decisions about what should happen. However, when we have taken evidence from civil servants and Scottish Government officials, there seems to be a lack of clarity about who should make the decision over how many commissioners we have and in what respect they would be held accountable to the SPCB. There is a bit of a lack of clarity, but that is not the SPCB’s fault.

There are two things that we should pick up as we look at the issue. First, we have to ensure that whatever structure we come out with enhances the scrutiny of this Parliament, but secondly, we must be very clear about the decision-making process on how many commissioners we have. I seek your agreement that those are the two main issues that the SPCB will consider, as you obviously have to put another budget in train this time next year.

Do you think that it is the unanimous view of the SPCB that we need more clarity on the whole issue and, therefore, greater accountability?

The Scottish Government is cutting the budget for employability by £30 million in cash terms. Do you think that the employability budget has to be separated into bits on awareness for employers and for employees?

In order to make Scotland a more attractive place in which to live, work and invest, on what policies in the budget area that is available to Scotland do you think the priority should be put? Professor Bell, you were very clear in your article on, I think, 20 December—immediately after the budget was published—and also this morning that you do not think that the budget has prioritised growth enough. What policies would you like to see?

I was going to ask exactly the same question.

Do you think that there is sufficient understanding about the skills issue? Do employers know enough about where the problems are with the skills agenda? Is there good knowledge of that within business?

Dr Sousa, you and other witnesses have mentioned the importance of the college sector. I want to ask about the cut to the Scottish Funding Council and the possible ramifications of that. The college and university sectors are critical to developing Scotland—they are critical to economic growth, apart from anything else, and to making the best use of the assets that we have. How critical do you think that funding cut is?