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This is my last question.

I would have liked a response. To me, it is a core question about the difference between large colleges and small colleges.

We have heard really useful evidence so far. We are trying to understand the impact of regionalisation and the reform process that we have gone through. Industrial relations is a particular issue of concern to me, but I know that colleagues have covered that already, given how regularly the issues recur. Some of the questions on structural issues are important, too.

I want to focus on outcomes for learners. Stuart Brown commented on equity of access coming out of the reform process, in terms of the number of colleges reducing and the urban-rural divide. On college performance for 2021, the Scottish Funding Council’s most recent annual report said that the completion rate for students was 61.3 per cent. The nearest comparable figure that I have for England from the Department for Education is 89.1 per cent. My question is for Stuart in the first instance. Do you have any ideas about the gap in completion rates for qualifications and whether the structural issues that you identified might have an impact on the situation?

It is a question about the differences between large colleges and small colleges, which I think gets to the core of what we are talking about. These figures, which are in the SFC report, are unique to Scotland. The difference in completion rates for large colleges is 52.7 per cent—

I will leave it, convener, if I cannot give the figures—

Does Lorcan Mullen have any comments on that issue?

The budget settlement for 2022-23 has been passed on to the colleges. For almost all colleges, it means significant cuts to staffing and the programmes that they run. Principals and other senior staff have expressed concerns to me that they have received letters from the Scottish Funding Council telling them that they have to do exactly the same things that they did last year.

We have talked about the ability to flex in the longer term. However, in the short term, is the Government system responsive enough to the context in which colleges exist to enable the money that is allocated to them to reflect the job that the Government wants them to do?

I am sorry, but I think that we might be talking slightly at cross-purposes. I am not talking about the SFC report but about the letters of requirement that are being sent to colleges telling them what they have to do with the money that is allocated to them. The SFC has produced a report about reform. I am concerned about the amount of money that is allocated and what colleges are being asked to do in the coming year. It is not realistic, is it? Colleges cannot cut posts and do the same job as they did last year.

My question is about access to university. Colleges are a critical part of that; Peter Scott referred to his report and some of his important work in that area. Following your report, some reports this morning are saying that the First Minister has said that Scotland is leading the way in university access, but this year’s Universities and Colleges Admissions Service’s figures show that the application rate from people from disadvantaged backgrounds in Scotland is 35.4 per cent, in Wales it is 37.5 per cent, in England it is 44.1 per cent, and in Northern Ireland it is 52.6 per cent. Do you agree with the First Minister that we are “leading the way”?

We should do that work prior to a further round of reform, should we not? If we are talking about outcomes, we should plan what we want to achieve and find the pathways to do it. Would that be the sensible approach?