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Cabinet secretary, they say that there is

“an established overall pattern of a lack of investment”.

That is not about one year’s money, is it?

Will all the costs of the reduction in contact time be met by the Scottish Government?

Thank you. The cabinet secretary—

I know. I was just about to hand over to the cabinet secretary.

I think that we will move on.

I am talking about the rationale for how you arrived at the figures of £10 million and £5 million. I come back to the theme of outcomes, with which I started the meeting. It would be interesting to know what the rationale is. Does a unit cost £500, £1,000 or £5,000? It would be interesting to see the working. When we were all at school, we were told to show our working. I would like to see the Government’s working in coming up with those numbers. Would you agree to send the committee that information?

A couple of colleagues have supplementary questions.

It would be very useful if you could bring us up to speed on the uptake.

Other members may pick this up later. You said in the chamber in December that the reduction in contact hours—which some people call chalk-face hours—of 90 minutes per week would happen in the next academic year, which begins in August. How is that going? What has been the outcome of your negotiations with the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers? Do you expect to achieve the target that you have given yourself, which is important in the light of the study from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development?

Is it an aspiration more than a commitment?

I am sure that Universities Scotland and Colleges Scotland will be anxious to continue their discussion with you on the basis of their concerns and your response, which—to be frank—I am not sure will have given them much comfort.