Chamber and committees

I understand that. On a separate point—I think—one thing that came out of the evidence that we took last year was that the Scottish Funding Council appears to hold a risk register, and the committee believed on the basis of a source of ours that five or six colleges could be coded black—that is, as having significant cash-flow problems. Do you have any update on that picture?

On your last point, does the system have a behavioural impact? Presumably, the board of Glasgow Kelvin College has made a decision to dispose of that asset in the west end of Glasgow, which is a high-value location. However, if it does not necessarily benefit at all from the proceeds of that sale, where is the incentive for it to consider such measures? Obviously, that situation could be replicated for other college boards across the country.

We have some final questions, which the deputy convener will put to you.

I was going to draw this morning’s evidence session to a close, but I see that Tricia Meldrum wants to come back in.

Certainly.

Yes, I think that you said that it was Glasgow Clyde College, but it is City of Glasgow College. That is fine—I appreciate your correcting the record.

I thank Shelagh Stewart, Tricia Meldrum, Mark MacPherson and the Auditor General for their time and their evidence this morning. I just want to conclude by saying how valuable we find this annual briefing, because it gives us a snapshot of the state of Scotland’s colleges in a short, sharp and informative format. Speaking on behalf of the committee, I say that we welcome this as an annual event, because it shows how things are and where things have or have not moved on. We as a committee find it a valuable resource in looking at the state and health of Scotland’s colleges.

We may well ask the funding council about that. I am surprised about that, given that the Public Audit Committee took evidence last year about that risk register existing and there being between four and six colleges on it, which is quite a substantial proportion. That is against the background of your reporting that there have been quite significant real-terms reductions to college budgets. Last year, you identified a trend of a growing number of colleges that are in a precarious financial position. Why are you not in regular liaison with the Scottish Funding Council to get an up-to-date picture of the risk register?

We have more questions about funding. I will bring in the deputy convener to pursue some of those lines of inquiry.

Good morning. I welcome everyone to the 25th meeting in 2024 of the Public Audit Committee. We have apologies from James Dornan.

Agenda item 1 is a decision on taking business in private. Does the committee agree to take agenda items 3, 4 and 5 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

The job evaluation exercise for support staff who are employed in Scotland’s colleges is also delayed. Can you give us an update on where that sits? Do you have a view on why it has been so slow to bring that to fruition, and what are the cost implications?