SNP Government must support our colleges

During this morning's debate on Youth Unemployment, Liz Smith MSP attacked the Scottish Government's assault on college funding.

She stated that the disproportionate cuts placed upon colleges were unacceptable, especially when colleges have done so much to develop the focus of their own regional and local economies when it comes to job creation.

Speaking after the debate, Liz Smith MSP said:

"There can be no doubt whatsoever, that rising unemployment is a very serious issue - particularly when we hear that no fewer than 100,000 young people are unemployed in Scotland. The Scottish Government has stated, not unreasonably, that polices to improve the opportunities for 16 to 19 year olds should be an essential commitment of this parliamentary session.

"Yet, at the very same time, the Scottish Government has placed on our colleges the unacceptable burden of disproportionate spending cuts. These cuts will impact particularly badly in the first year of the 2012-15 Spending Review and will, extraordinarily, come at a time when the Scottish Government claims that it is doing everything it possibly can to promote and enhance the opportunities of all our young people. It is a real terms cut of a £100m.

"The assault on colleges is worse because of the wrong-headed policies this government has taken towards our universities. It is wrong because it is our colleges which, by their achievements in the last decade or so, have done so much to develop the focus of their own regional and local economies.

"Colleges are the ones, along with their local businesses and entrepreneurs who understand best the changing needs of their local economy and who can react most quickly to the corresponding demand. If the Scottish Government is to convince us that the new concept of regionalisation is not a euphemism for enforced mergers, but instead a genuine desire to respond to the needs of a local economy, then it must support our colleges.

"There are far too many young people unemployed and far too many people who feel completely disengaged from the world of work. That must concern us all but so too should the consistency of policy-making and that is where the Scottish Government is currently falling far short."

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