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10.23 am
Mr. James Wallace (Orkney and Shetland): I shall speak only briefly because the debate takes place on the firm foundation provided by the hon. Member for Falkirk, West (Mr. Canavan), who covered almost all the ground. It was tempting to say, "Let the Minister reply to that." The hon. Gentleman made all the key points.
I take up the final remark of the hon. Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mrs. Fyfe). I, too, look forward to the day when there is a Scottish Parliament. If it works as those who are involved in the constitutional convention foresee, it will use committees and have a greater involvement in consultation. As a result, the further education and higher education institutions will have a close link with the Scottish Parliament. When it makes decisions that affect FE and HE, and other education sectors, they will be informed ones. I have no doubt that it will legislate accordingly. There will be good and close links between the Scottish Parliament and those involved in the various education sectors.
When the Government took legislation through the House to take FE colleges away from local authority control, the proposal was met with considerable resistance, and naturally so. There is considerable concern when Government have the opportunity to centralise. They follow up that process with direct controls over funding, which is really the substance of the debate.
In a local context, I appreciated the fact that the Scottish Office gave proper recognition to the fact that the FE colleges in both Orkney and Shetland were closely integrated with the secondary schools on both islands. Since structural changes have taken place, it has been pleasing to watch the development of FE facilities on both Orkney and Shetland. I had the great pleasure last year of opening some splendid new facilities for the FE college on Shetland. I know that on Orkney considerable efforts are being made to establish the FE college in its own right. I believe that we shall see it moving away from its integration with the secondary school.
What we have achieved locally on the islands echoes one of the calls made by the hon. Member for Falkirk, West. There should be a way of establishing better links with the local education authority and FE colleges. It is important to establish a link between the community and its FE college. That is something that we have achieved on Orkney and Shetland because of our slightly different status.
It is important to develop--I am sure that this is not exclusive to FE colleges in the highlands and islands--distance learning techniques. A considerable amount of education is now delivered by that means, and I am sure that the technique will be developed still further in years to come. Many FE colleges will play an important part in the development of the university of the highlands and islands. It is thought that the university should not be concentrated in one place and instead should be a multi-campus institution. I am sure that FE colleges have a considerable and important role to play in that context.
We have heard that, since the incorporation of FE colleges, there have been considerable achievements in terms of increasing numbers of students and efficiency gains, which last year were assessed as 4.2 per cent. As has been said this morning, however, we cannot go on and on increasing numbers and expecting efficiency gains to be achieved. Increasing numbers pose their own
problems in terms of providing accommodation and ensuring that proper staff time is made available to students.
The cry that is coming from the debate is that it must be recognised that we cannot continue to reduce funding year upon year. There is a predicted reduction in funding of about 4 per cent. in real terms, year on year, from now until 1998-99. That will lead to a reduction in the quality of the education provided, and it is bound to have an effect on staff morale, especially if there are redundancies to meet lower budgets. Reduced funding will also have an effect on students.
Those engaged in FE, and the nation as a whole, face a considerable challenge. It is clear that FE is an important resource and an important opportunity for the 60 per cent. of young people who do not wish to enter HE. It is an important sector in which the skills of our young people can be developed. When we consider the targets that have been set by the Government and the Advisory Scottish Council for Education and Training, we realise how far we are still falling behind. One of the most alarming targets is that 60 per cent. of the work force should have SVQ III qualifications by the year 2000. We had reached 47 per cent. by 1995, and the position was static. Given the trends that have been discussed this morning, it is difficult to see how the gap can be bridged satisfactorily in the four years left to do it.
Everyone--the Government and the Opposition, the Confederation of British Industry and the Scottish Trades Union Council--agree that it is important to improve the skills and training of our young people. As the hon. Member for Moray (Mrs. Ewing) rightly reminded us, it is not only young people and women returners who are to be considered. We must increasingly recognise that in a rapidly changing world the skills that young people acquire at the age of 18 or 19 may not be the skills that they need for employment or employability when they reach the age of 35 or 40. We shall increasingly see people returning to colleges to update their skills, and the FE colleges in Scotland will have a significant role to play.
Mrs. Helen Liddell (Monklands, East):
I join my hon. Friends in congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk, West (Mr. Canavan) on securing this important debate, as further education has become very much the orphan of the education system, which is regrettable, as it is a tremendous window of opportunity for people and, indeed, the economy.
I hope that such an experienced parliamentarian as my hon. Friend will not consider it amiss if I--as an inexperienced parliamentarian--echo the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell) and pay tribute to the considered nature of my hon. Friend's speech, much of which was obviously the result of considerable thought and experience. I listened to it with interest and will read it tomorrow with even greater interest, as he gave us some pointers to the future that merit detailed consideration by my hon. Friends and me,
and also by the Government. Many of my hon. Friend's points about the future of higher education funding and the relationship with further education funding are important. The key point he made is at the root of the debate--the paucity of funding for further education in Scotland, which is of considerable importance to Scotland.
Since taking over the education brief, I have had lengthy discussions with representatives from further education colleges. Indeed, I have a constituency interest, as a further education college is adjacent to my constituency. In the House today are representatives of the further education colleges, who have travelled all the way from Scotland at considerable inconvenience and expense, so it is with regret that I see that on the Government Benches the Minister sits isolated with only the Whip for interest. Do none of his hon. Friends represent areas with an interest in further education? Further education is at the heart of the education system in Scotland, and it is regrettable that Conservative Members have not taken more interest in the debate, given that all the Opposition parties in Scotland have been represented and a number of significant points have been made.
The extent of the funding cut affecting colleges--half the colleges have suffered quite a severe cut--is causing grave concern to all of us who are concerned about the future of further education in Scotland. The point has been made repeatedly that there has been a continuing quest for efficiency on the part of the Government, not recognising that year-on-year quests for efficiency, with student numbers increasing, as the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Wallace) pointed out, are not the route to efficiency but are the route to reducing quality. That point was made by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mrs. Fyfe). I shudder to think what I would have done if I had been asked to teach chemistry. I referred in Committee yesterday to the lengths to which I went to get a higher in Latin, which involved learning Latin off by heart to get through the exam. I should add that I was successful and now have a higher in Latin, but do not ask me to translate any of it.
This is the European Year of Lifelong Learning, and the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South (Mr. Robertson), in his capacity as Scotland's Education Minister, took part in its impressive launch at the new conference centre in Edinburgh just few months ago, in the presence of Mrs. Edith Cresson. Is it not ironic therefore that this year we are cutting the resources to one of the key elements of lifelong learning--further education?
My hon. Friends and the Minister will recognise that I have a specific interest in this in relation to the career of my personal assistant, Mr. Frank Roy, who was a Ravenscraig shop steward and was made redundant as a consequence of the closure of that plant. The closure had a devastating effect on the economy not just of Lanarkshire but of all Scotland. With the help of Motherwell college, he got his highers, and with his own determination he got a degree from Glasgow Caledonian university. He now works for me, which is a bit of a dip in his prospects, but in the next few months my hon. Friends and I look forward to welcoming him to the Labour Benches as the Member of Parliament for Motherwell and Wishart. [Interruption.]
I have a limited sense of direction, but I am sure that my hon. Friend, as he will be at that time, will be a great help to a Labour Government, given his wide range of skills and his common sense. Common sense is lacking in the Government's attitude to further education in Scotland. It is common sense to build up the skills base of our economy. As my hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Mr. McKelvey) pointed out, what is the point of competitiveness White Papers when we are slipping to 35th place in the world list of educational qualifications? We are cutting the very means by which people can acquire skills throughout their career.
Those of us who are in our prime left school, but the opportunity was there to pursue further or higher education and to look forward to a reasonable spread of careers, until the Conservative Government took over in 1979. Now our children will probably have to change careers three or four times in their working lives, not just as a consequence of the policies of the Conservative party Government but because of industrial and technological change. One key way to ensure change in the skills base is through an adequate system of further education. My party pledges itself to a strong and vibrant further education sector.
I have taken on board a number of the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk, West, which are extremely interesting. I have also taken into account one of the significant points made by the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland regarding asset targets. We recognise that, if we are to have a viable economy in future, we must increase the skills base. I pay tribute to the work carried out by the advisory committee on education and training in Scotland, which has done a tremendous amount of work in identifying the weaknesses in the skills base.
I was particularly impressed with some of the points made by the Association of Scottish Colleges, which I had hoped to meet on Monday. Because of parliamentary business at the Scottish Grand Committee in Perth, however, I was not able to do so. That association and the Educational Institute of Scotland pointed to the shortfall in meeting the asset targets in Scotland. To an extent, that is because Ministers refuse to accept ownership for the targets and refuse to accept responsibility for the funding of further education to ensure that we meet them.
In another part of the House, we have discussed in the past few weeks the establishment of a single examination board that will take into account the Scottish Examination Board and the Scottish Vocational Education Council to ensure that the examination structure in place for the introduction of "Higher Still", which is a radical change in post-16 education in Scotland. One important element to secure changes in post-16 education in Scotland is to ensure that our further education colleges are equipped to prepare themselves for "Higher Still", and they are limited as a consequence of the decisions that the Government have taken on funding.
How many colleges began this year with a deficit? Further education colleges have been under pressure not just because of the impact of incorporation but because of the policies that the Government have adopted. One of the positive consequences of incorporation is the involvement of local businesses in further education.
Many business men and women are appalled at the way in which the Government have conducted further education funding: they continually move the goalposts. They insist on efficiency savings whenever they are not prepared to make resources available, and they fail to recognise the crying need of local industry for a well-skilled work force.
I listened with great interest to the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow, who pointed out the difficulties that Bathgate is likely to experience as a consequence of the decision to centre his further education college in Livingston. I do not wish to go into specific constituency points, but my constituency is adjacent to Bathgate and I recognise the extent to which a college can give some vibrancy, life and hope to a community. My constituency is adjacent to Coatbridge college and I recognise the significance that it brings to the local community. I know from my local employers how important it is to have the college nearby, one with which they can co-operate and get a ready supply of skilled workers.
The hon. Member for Angus, East (Mr. Welsh), who has worked in further education, made an important point about the availability of resources. He also spoke of the need for a diverse range of courses. We in Scotland pride ourselves on the diversity of our education system, which must be extended and maintained in further education. The point was amplified by my hon. Friend the Member for Maryhill, who referred to her own experience and made an interesting point about the quest for improved general education standards in Scotland. That relates to the availability of general education in further education colleges for those pursuing craft courses.
If we are to have multi-skilling, and if new skills are to be available for the future, people must have the self-confidence that will enable them to change skills. That may not seem important, given the self-confidence of my hon. Friends, but increasing people's confidence is difficult in Scotland, partly because we have experienced generations of high unemployment. Our education system is very sound on the basics, which gives us the edge, but we lose out through not giving people enough self-confidence. That is one of the great things that educational qualifications can provide, because achievement in the further education sector is recognised.
It is regrettable that we have had to have this debate. It would have been much better if we had gathered here to examine the opportunities for further education in Scotland. As we approach the turn of the century, new industries and opportunities will emerge. I hope that that will happen under a Labour Government.
Those of us who represent Lanarkshire constituencies are very conscious of the impact of inward investment and companies such as Chunghwa Picture Tubes, and of the need to provide the diversity of skills that that company will require. The same position is replicated throughout Scotland. Another important part of Scotland's economic future is tourism. Many of our colleges provide courses in hospitality, which are vital to the improvement of the service that we offer the tourist industry. They, as well as the many science and technology-based courses of which we have been so proud in the past, are important in Scotland.
I cannot understand the reasoning of the Scottish Office. I hope that the Minister will be good enough to give us a clue to why he is selling not just the family
silver but the future in refusing to fund our colleges adequately. It is not necessary to travel far to find colleges that are doing sterling work in deplorable conditions. There will be no sustainable future for those colleges if there are to be hefty staff redundancies, and a lessening of the quality and range of teaching because of the pressures put on teachers who must work in dilapidated buildings with obsolete equipment that the private finance initiative cannot renew or replace.
The only form of growth that has taken place is the granting of responsibility to colleges for the allocation of bursaries. We shall be discussing that elsewhere in the House of Commons in the next few days, but is it not ironic that the Government, while trimming and fiddling at the edges, are ducking the key issue? If we are to invest in the future of the Scottish economy and the confidence of our young people, and secure the place in the world economy which I believe we are capable of securing rather than languishing where the Government have put us, the investment that we make in education is crucial.
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