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I want to kick off the discussion on a point that Stephen Boyle made. Clearly, despite the success that we have seen—[Inaudible.]—for those who get a community sentence, as you have said, the numbers of those who get a community sentence have basically flatlined for the past four or five years. What are the reasons behind that? What can we possibly do about it?

I will focus on the current impact of Covid on young people and will also invite you to look ahead to what the future might look like. Has Covid changed the way that we think about education and how we help young people to make successful transitions, either into the world of work or into further and higher education? I am thinking about digital technology, which largely came to the rescue for school pupils by allowing them to study remotely and from home.

Looking ahead, will the world look the same as it did before Covid? Do we provide youngsters with the right skills? Are we matching up those skills with what employers want? Is there a job of work to be done by the Government to help employers with the recruitment process? I would be obliged if you could give us a perspective on the impact that Covid has had and how things might change.

Thank you very much.

I lost a bit of the discussion earlier, so I apologise if I tread on old ground. There is a sense that our town centres, in particular, need to be much more than they are at present if we are to be successful in delivering a concept of place that includes sustainable community and safe and pleasant environments. What are the panel members’ views on that?

In a town such as Kilmarnock, which I represent, there are a number of properties—shops, pubs, buildings and pieces of land—that have, in effect, been abandoned by their owners. They are overgrown with weeds, have posters stuck to windows and stuff like that. In your view, does that issue play a part in the concept that we are trying to achieve? If it does, what can we do to overcome that problem? Does Craig McLaren or Tony Cain have a view on that aspect?

Has there been any clarification of what we might be looking at in the near future?

Good morning to the panel. I am hoping to ask for your views on the response to the pandemic in broader terms, and the student experience and so on. I will come to that, but first, before I forget, I will ask a question relating to Colleges Scotland’s submission on the potential impact of the shared prosperity fund. It is probably for Shona Struthers to respond to. What are the concerns about that fund not matching up to the previous European Union funding? Could you give us a flavour of what your concerns are in that area?

That was a helpful contribution, Gillian. Thank you very much for that perspective.

To return to the question that I asked previously, do you think that the colleges are geared up for the changes in the economy that are being demanded at the moment? Other members must be hearing locally that there are a number of vacancies in a number of sectors, and the question is whether the colleges are adapting quickly enough to those circumstances. Audrey Cumberford gave us a good example of adapting very quickly to respond to vacancies in the NHS sector. Can you give us a flavour of how that is going around the country?

I am the member for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley.

That is really encouraging to hear—thank you.

Convener, if there is a chance near the end, I would like to ask another couple of questions.

I have a question for Karen Watt. It is probably two years almost to the day since I asked you this same question about Ayrshire College and the recurring private finance initiative obligation of about £1.4 million each year that the college has hanging around its neck. Is there any possibility of a review of that situation so that Ayrshire College could perhaps enter a level playing field with all the other colleges, especially given the particularly difficult times that we are in post-Covid and post-Brexit?