Chamber and committees

So, you accept that. Do we understand why that is happening? We know that the homelessness situation overall is tough—housing supply is difficult—but if this is a priority, why is the trend going backwards?

I will move on to housing now, if that is okay. The latest figures show that the proportion of those under 25 who were looked-after children and who were assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness has increased by 10 per cent over the past year. Why is that happening and what are we doing about it?

In a similar vein to Ruth Maguire’s question, I want to explore the no-compulsory-redundancy policy again. I accept what you have said before, which is that colleges have always been excluded, despite the broader statements that were made in the past. Are you recommending to colleges that there should be no compulsory redundancies?

When Mike Russell was in your position, he was quite clear that he was making a strong recommendation. He said, “This is Government policy and we expect colleges to follow it.” Is your position slightly different from that? Do you have a softer approach to it, or are you still as firm as Mike Russell was?

I have received reports that the money is being used to backfill for reductions in expenditure that have been made elsewhere. What has happened? Where has that money been repurposed from? How is that service being provided? Is there evidence that the money is being used to backfill in areas that have been cut?

The issue is not that we are not making progress; it is that we are going backwards.

Louise, I had direct experience through constituency casework of Who Cares? Scotland, which did a brilliant job. What you did was exceptional.

You probably heard the earlier interaction about the 10 per cent increase in homelessness. Do you have direct examples in relation to that? What needs to be done to fix that? I do not know who would like to go first.

As someone who seems incapable of persuading other people to my point of view, I have an interest in this area.

I return to the issue of knowledge. Some are very vocal and strident about the role of knowledge. I really want to understand where we are with that in practice. What is the scale of the problem? I understand the future threat, but where are we now? Is deviation from knowledge a real problem, and what do we need to do to fix it?

Thank you for your excellent answers.

I am interested in the panel members’ views on yesterday’s statement, particularly on the qualifications decision. I think there was a frustration among us because we thought that we were going to get some kind of move forward, but we are getting a new debate in the new year. Perhaps Professor Humes could go first.