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In addition, we will ask the college development network to look at the nature of the training that is provided to participants on boards. It is no secret that, when MSPs join the Parliament, there are opportunities for training on questioning techniques. That might be worth exploring to ensure that there is full accountability in board settings. I am happy to consider any other suggestions that the committee might have in the context that I have just outlined.

As I have already touched on, we are currently considering how we can prioritise that commitment. I am sure that you will recognise the challenging financial circumstances that we are in. However, we are working on the matter.

The commitment made was to do so in this parliamentary session. That is what we are working towards.

I am sorry that I cannot be more specific. I am not trying to be difficult or vague in any way; I am being as open with you as I can. We are considering that currently, but we are in an incredibly challenging set of financial circumstances.

I will bring in my official Jane Duffy to give you the detail on that.

First, I thank the committee for allowing me to contribute from Stornoway, where I am visiting the local college.

The lifelong learning offer is a work in progress—there is no doubt about that—but I think that we have made significant progress, and the reform agenda on which we are embarking will afford us further opportunity to build on that.

Mr Balfour will be aware of the increasing levels of financial support that we have been providing. We recently increased undergraduate support by £900 and announced an 11 per cent-plus increase in the maximum bursary rates in further education for 2023-24. We are now considering how we prioritise our programme for government commitment to reform student support within the context of the fixed budget and the challenging financial circumstances that we are in. That is an on-going exercise, as is looking overall at what we can do to best deliver for people who need the most support to access the post-school education system.

I am sure that Mr Balfour would recognise the progress that has been made in improving matters through the widening access programme, given that we hit our target as early as we did. However, we are absolutely not resting on our laurels. We are working closely with our partners in further and higher education to consider what more we can do to improve access to both sectors for people from the poorest backgrounds.

It will certainly take account of those most in need. To be clear, the conversation with universities happened yesterday because we were meeting. I am meeting Colleges Scotland next week. I met the youth sector quite recently, and we will follow up on that.

I am not aware of what has or has not been discussed at Cabinet, or what updates have been provided. You will recognise that I have been in post for only 12 weeks.

What I can say is that a commitment has been made in the programme for government. There was no timeline on that, but the commitment was made and we intend to keep it. I have been as open as I can be with the committee about where we are and how we will try to progress the issue in the short term.

I am not aware that a firm timeline has been put in place. There was a commitment in the programme for government. I said that we would like to get the pilot up and running this financial year. I want to see it up and running quite quickly, but we also want to get it right. I hope that it can inform some reasonably rapid progression from that point on. If I recall rightly, we said that it would be done within this parliamentary session. We would all like to have it done as early in the session as possible, and we are trying to put some momentum into that just now.

I am, of course, conscious of where funding has to be found. Dealing with such challenges has taken up much of my 12 weeks in the job. On occasion, budgetary pressures arise. The teachers pay settlement was one significant pressure. I see the exchange programme as being a priority now. We need to get on and do something with it, and that is what I intend to do.