Chamber and committees

I am surprised that those discussions have not taken place. I thought that I might be picking that up wrong.

I echo colleagues’ sentiments in that, in times when resources are stretched, it would feel inappropriate if those who were furthest away from getting opportunities missed out. It is good to hear that the minister will engage with the youth work and college sectors.

Youth work is an obvious gap in the current Turing scheme. You mentioned that you will engage with the UK Government. What scope do you see for improvement or changes to Turing that Scottish young people could take advantage of?

Thank you. That is helpful.

Can you give examples?

I appreciate what you are saying. Pardon me for using the wrong term. We acknowledge that children with additional support needs are a large cohort. I think that what drives some of the discussion of this issue is not that; it is the examples that people see of children and young people causing physical harm to other children and young people. I appreciate that all violence is caused by distressed behaviour.

Good morning, everyone. I appreciate all your experience, expertise and different perspectives.

I want to talk specifically about children for a wee while. Initially, I want to ask about and listen to you telling me about your perspectives on the factors and aspects that increase instances of violence and violent behaviour. Nick Smiley, you touched on some of that in your opening remarks. Can we look at that a bit more deeply?

I would then like to chat about potential solutions. Colin Morrison spoke about how having good relationships can be preventative and protective. Perhaps we could talk a bit about that as well.

Thank you.

That would be helpful, thank you.

Good morning. You have painted a great picture of the value of the schemes and the type of young people who are missing out. Can you give the committee an indication of the number of young people who were participating?

Good morning, minister. You will be quite familiar with the committee’s inquiry into college regionalisation, in which we called for more flexibility for colleges to manage their finances. You will know that they are restricted in their ability to generate additional income and that they have no ability to borrow or hold reserves, so we need to find a solution to enable them to operate within the current financial envelope in these challenging times.

When the previous minister visited the committee in November 2022, he was pressed on the urgency of those matters and on how quickly things could be dealt with. We now have the SFC’s review on sustainability. Will you talk about that? Also, you said that you met college principals and representatives last week. Did they come with specific ideas for what those flexibilities might look like and how you could assist them?