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The sheer extent of the potential membership is very encouraging. I have no more questions.

Will Glasgow MSPs know by Christmas what the outcome is?

Yes, convener. Going back to what Mr Witty, I think, said about the disparity of funding between colleges and universities, I note that the discussion has focused on a real-terms cut to the colleges budget, but there is a projected flat cash settlement across the entire further and higher education sector. Universities Scotland came to the committee last week and asked for an additional £171 million, but Mr Witty has already said that he thinks that the funding landscape is not equitable between colleges and universities, particularly with regard to the early years of a university degree, which for 43 per cent of all young people from a deprived background are often spent in a college environment.

This is really important, convener. Those young people who are in universities are going through the college sector, but they are getting less funding for it. Does Karen Watt from the funding council—or, indeed, Shona Struthers or Andrew Witty—want to say more about that? If Universities Scotland are coming here, saying, “Give us £171 million more,” without having any clue where the cash is coming from, and colleges are saying, “We’ll just do our best in a tight financial environment,” should you not be standing up for colleges?

So, with a fixed-sum budget, should money be taken from universities and given to colleges to ensure equity?

The Scottish Funding Council has made recommendations about how the Glasgow colleges regional board and its three assigned colleges could work together more closely and about how structures could be changed. When Derek Smeall gave evidence to this committee a few weeks ago, he said that the board’s activity is “highly transactional” and “massively duplicates” the work of the Glasgow colleges group. I think that he feels that the colleges are in lockstep in their thinking and that the colleges group provides a much more effective and strategic way of taking forward themed activities in the Glasgow colleges sector.

Does the Government accept the SFC’s recommendations? The view of the three Glasgow college principals is out there. What is the future of the GCRB? There is duplication, albeit that it might be well intentioned. We talked earlier about mergers. Perhaps there would be a cost saving if there were no Glasgow colleges regional board.

Where does the Glasgow colleges group sit in the process? There are representatives of the colleges on the regional board, but it is unclear whether principals are members, although they attend meetings. There is a grey area when it comes to the influence that each college has within the board. How can colleges influence the process?

You said that some of the principals thought that that was a good springboard, but I asked how the Glasgow colleges group was specifically involved in that process. What is their input and how can they influence that discussion?

Yes. I just wanted that helpful clarification.

I am maybe being slightly flippant about a serious and important subject, but there is some new technology involved, which is called pen and paper. If there has to be a trail, heaven forfend that an MSP could not have relevant voting slips to pass to the Presiding Officer as and when they are required. If there are 100 amendments, 100 points of order can add quite a lot of time on to business in an afternoon. It is not for us to decide on that this morning but, sometimes, old technology can work just as well.