Chamber and committees

I am sorry, but I was slightly distracted just then—there is a very unhappy baby outside within earshot.

Sorry—just to be clear, that number is the same number by which places were increased to deal with the pandemic backlog.

Good morning to our witnesses, and thank you for your answers so far. The committee has been interested in financial flexibilities for colleges. We acknowledge that we are all operating in challenging times, but we want colleges to be as free as possible to manage their resources in a way that works for them. Does either of you have opinions on what further flexibilities the Scottish Government and the SFC could explore with the college sector?

David, do you have a view on that?

Obviously, the Office for National Statistics classification is limiting in some ways. Do you have any views on measures that could be explored to enable colleges to raise revenue, for example?

I will come on to that. I wanted to know what you would like the SFC to consider in reviewing that funding. You have spoken about the impact and your concerns. Would you like to add anything more specific?

Apologies—I have misread my notes and I am treading into territory that Michelle Thomson will want to talk to you about. I will ask instead about the impact that the removal of 1,289 full-time-equivalent funded places will have on supply and demand for Scotland-domiciled students.

I saw Ellie Gomersall nodding. Do you wish to come in on that, Ellie?

I know that this committee would push back on that view a bit, and we certainly take a lot of evidence about the benefits of apprenticeships and the different styles of college places. Progress is being made on that front.

Professor, you spoke about the impact on other conditions. I guess that MRIs and CT scans are not just used for cancer treatment, and that element will have a knock-on effect across the board.

May I have one brief final question? I am testing the convener’s patience a little bit.

Obviously, speaking simplistically, the challenge in moving to prevention from patching things up—if we think about hospitals and investment in community care—is the process of moving money away from fixing stuff to the relationship and preventative stuff. Is that a similar situation? I am trying to understand what the blocker is in moving from, “Here’s what you need and here’s how we’re going to give you it,” to the relationship that we are talking about.