The draft order is one of a series of orders that put in place the new regional structure for colleges as part of the implementation of the Post-16 Education (Scotland) Act 2013. The new structure will support colleges to be more responsive to the needs of learners and employers in improving the life chances of our young people, supporting Scotland’s economic ambitions and creating a more sustainable and secure system.
As the committee is aware, there are 13 college regions, each of which is to have a single body that is responsible for regional outcomes. Orders have already been made for 12 of those. The draft Lanarkshire Colleges Order 2014 will put in place arrangements for Lanarkshire, which is the final college region.
Lanarkshire is one of only three regions with more than one college. In each of those regions, a regional strategic body will plan and distribute funding on a regional basis.
The order will mean that Lanarkshire will be unique in having a regional strategic body that is a college: New College Lanarkshire. Having listened carefully to the sector, I am persuaded that that arrangement will best deliver for learners and businesses in Lanarkshire. That is the regional structure that both colleges in the region want. It is not my solution; it is their solution, but it is one that I am pleased to endorse. It is a Lanarkshire solution made in Lanarkshire.
In addition to making New College Lanarkshire the regional strategic body, the order does a number of things that flow from that. It assigns the other college in the region—South Lanarkshire College—to the regional strategic body. Speaking of South Lanarkshire College, I look forward to cutting the first sod for its new state-of-the-art £2.1 million teaching block later this month. That is the latest in a long line of investments that we have made in the college estate and in Lanarkshire.
The order will make New College Lanarkshire a regional college. Being both a regional strategic body and a regional college means that it will have regional functions in relation to the two colleges in the region.
The order will broaden the membership of the board of New College Lanarkshire to include members from South Lanarkshire College in recognition of its new responsibilities.
Finally, the order will remove from legislation the entry on the regional board for Lanarkshire colleges. That body has not, of course, come into being.
I mentioned earlier that I had been persuaded of the case for New College Lanarkshire taking on regional responsibilities. Let me touch on how my thinking has evolved as the plans have changed, as a result of changed circumstances, on delivering the structure that the colleges in the region want.
Initially, we planned to establish a regional board. That is a particular type of regional strategic body that is a stand-alone organisation. When the Post-16 Education (Scotland) Bill was introduced, there were to be four colleges in the region. When it was passed, there were to be three. However, by the time it came round to consulting on assigning colleges, there were to be only two.
Given those changes, it would have been remiss not to consult on whether a regional board remained the optimal structure for the region. After careful deliberation, the colleges in the region ultimately recommended making New College Lanarkshire a regional strategic body instead.
I put on record my appreciation for the work of all concerned in the two colleges and beyond, including and especially the region’s presumptive chair, the patient and tireless Linda McTavish, in developing the plans for Lanarkshire—plans that avoid creating a new stand-alone public body. The arrangements require close partnership working with New College Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire College and call on Stewart McKillop, the principal of South Lanarkshire College, and Martin McGuire, the principal of New College Lanarkshire, to work particularly closely together. I am sure that they will, because the plans are very much the product of their thinking and co-operation, and I have every confidence in the colleges and the principals.
I am pleased to answer the committee’s questions.