Chamber and committees

Thank you, convener. I have a point about recurring costs in a slightly different area. The Scottish Government has been trying to support the universities that have had to pay increased employer contributions for the teacher superannuation scheme. What evaluation has the Government made of how sustainable that will be in the long term, as opposed to one-off funding to deal with the initial impact of what I believe was a relatively unexpected increase in employer contributions?

Yes.

Thank you. If you have the opportunity to give a written update to the committee, I would look forward to that development.

That is useful. I have a couple of points for clarification. A lot of what you have just mentioned would require legislative change. Do you envisage that happening in this session of Parliament and as part of the programme of reform that you are taking forward before the next election?

On the specific issue of fair work, do you agree with the broad thrust of my point, which is that the SFC needs more power to intervene when there are fair work issues?

I absolutely agree that colleges and their principals need more flexibility but, in the past 10 years, we have seen a range of acute problems at specific institutions and have seen examples of very poor work practices. As you mentioned, the SFC has limited ability to intervene. A sector-wide approach would not be appropriate because the problems have often been institution specific and the whole sector should not be “punished” for that. Do you agree that, if the SFC is being empowered to take further action, it should have the power to take further action with individual institutions that fail to meet their fair work obligations?

Only a handful.

I absolutely agree that investigation is required first, but the issue is that the SFC has the power neither to investigate nor to take action.

That would be useful. Thanks.

On a different point, you will be aware that during her recent appearance at the committee on behalf of the SFC, Karen Watt mentioned that she had sent some proposals to yourself or to the Government on reforms of Scottish Funding Council’s powers and the options available to it. That was in response to a question that I asked about action that the SFC could take when colleges were not meeting the specific points in the agreements that they had reached.

My specific concern was about fair work and the situation where a college was not meeting the fair work obligations in its outcome agreement, for example. Until now, the SFC has not ever taken action against a college that has failed to meet its fair work obligations. In part of her response, Ms Watt indicated that there is a lack of appropriate powers for the SFC and that the options available to it are somewhat blunt. Can you tell us a little bit more about the proposals that it has sent to you, how they fit in with the wider reform programme that you are looking at, and how that will be taken forward?

I have one final question, if that is okay with the convener.

Minister, you and I have recently been playing ping-pong with written questions about the issue of pay for college principals and whether that should align with the framework for the pay of chief executives, because those principals are the only equivalents in the public sector who do not align with that framework.

One of your answers to me said that although it is not for the Scottish Government to determine principals’ pay,

“The Scottish Government does however, expect that pay arrangements for senior staff ensure value for money, affordability and sustainability in the longer term.”

I responded by asking whether the Scottish Government believes that all senior staff pay within the college sector meets those objectives at the moment, and your answer to that was to refer me to your previous answer, which, with respect, is not an answer.

Will you take the opportunity now to clarify that, bearing in mind that some college principals in Scotland have remuneration packages that are far in excess of that of the First Minister? Do all college principals’ salary and remuneration packages at the moment meet your standards for value for money, affordability and sustainability in the long term?

On that point, what was the last thing that the Government told you in answer to that question, and when was that?