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My instinct is that trade unions should be represented on boards, and I anticipate that that will happen.

We are very clear about the fair work expectations, and the colleges and universities know exactly what those are. The Funding Council has an on-going dialogue with both sectors. Are you asking about the guidance in a broad sense?

Can I give you a specific date? No. Is the date relatively imminent? Yes.

If that were to be the case, that would be a concern.

That remains a work in progress, but we will be happy to write to the committee with as much detail as we can provide.

I think that it is explainable. We have explained why it is necessary, but I entirely recognise the disappointment and concern that have been expressed by both the colleges and the universities over the impact.

The cabinet secretary and I met Colleges Scotland principals and chairs last week. We also met the Colleges Scotland union representatives on the same day, and we met Universities Scotland. We have had some detailed discussions about this, and they have expressed their concerns—I understand those concerns entirely—but, particularly in the context of colleges, we are already attempting to move on from this jointly and to determine how we can support the colleges into a more sustainable position going forward. We are having and will have similar conversations with the universities.

I do not think that our language around it has been of that nature. We have just tried to be open and transparent about what has led to this decision.

It is regrettable that we are not in a position to provide the additional money to colleges and universities that we had indicated that we would—that is what we wanted to do—but this is the reality that we are operating in, and we have to deal with the situation as it exists.

As I have seen, as a member of the committee and then up close as a minister, the industrial relations are not at all good. There have been disputes in eight of the past nine years. Having spoken to both sides, I think that we need to find some way of addressing that. The committee expressed a view on that previously and I share that view.

The universities are in a slightly different set-up in that the industrial dispute is United Kingdom-wide. There is a pay offer, which has been rejected. I have had conversations directly with Universities Scotland on specific issues that are happening in Scotland and I have sought to encourage it to engage constructively with the UCU to try to resolve the matter.

I do not think that the First Minister shot it down, as you put it; he was just clear that the Scottish Government’s position is that that is a red-line issue for us. Sir Peter is perfectly entitled to express his view. As you will know, he was very clear that he wanted a calm discussion and that it was all about taking a limited approach, but unfortunately in some quarters his view was portrayed as being that he wanted to reintroduce tuition fees, which is not what he was saying at all.

However, that does not mean that we agree with him—we do not.