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Absolutely. SIMD has delivered well, up to a point, but we have to recognise that there are young people in non-SIMD20 areas who would qualify under the widening access umbrella. I think that you heard evidence last week citing the fact that Orkney, Shetland and, I think, the Western Isles, have no SIMD20 areas. It is beyond the realms of credibility to think that there are absolutely no young people living in those areas—particularly on remote islands—who might qualify. Indeed, our colleague Liam McArthur brought that to my attention a few months ago, and we discussed it at the most recent forum. The universities are now considering their approach to island communities.

I absolutely get your point about SIMD20, Mr Mason, and no one is talking about doing away with it; the question is what more we can do there. Some of the universities have contextual nuances in their policies, which allow some of them to go a little bit further—or they choose to go a bit further. We are looking to share that best practice—if you want to call it that—across the sector, pushing the envelope a bit to see what more can be done.

If the principal of Glasgow Caley were sitting here today, he would openly admit that the university has an advantage for some simple things here—although I hate to use the word “advantage”. It is surrounded by SIMD20 areas, but it has a bus station on its doorstep. The ability of young people to travel in and out of Glasgow to go to that university is far greater than is the case in remote and rural settings.

Considering how the WARF is delivered, such universities are specifically funded for the work that they do. The funding is targeted to support them. As you can see from the numbers, GCU contributes a third of the total, I think, and there are moneys that follow that.

Yes, it was transferred across.

I recall saying last week that the support that the University of Dundee will receive from the SFC—whether at the £15 million level or a lesser amount, through that financial transactions funding—is designed to provide it with the breathing space to allow it to bring forward an appropriate financial recovery plan. None of us has ever suggested that this money alone will resolve the issues at the University of Dundee. It will allow it time to work with the SFC—because the SFC will have oversight of its financial recovery plan—and its staff, who will also need to be engaged in this, to come up with a way forward that returns the university to a sustainable footing.

On the one hand, I understand why it feels that way to the staff, what with all the uncertainty. On the other, we would all expect proper diligence to be at play here as the university, under its new finance director, absolutely bottoms out the scale of the problem and the nature of how it got there, and comes up with a plan that is actually robust. My understanding, Mr Rennie, is that the internal engagement—if I can put it that way—on the shape of the recovery should begin next week.

What I have said to you, Mr Ross, is that the criteria for the distribution of those moneys will be set by the SFC—

Your point about early service leavers is a very good and obvious one. Earlier, Mr Mason asked about access to information so that people can make an informed decision and understand how to progress to university. As you well know, Mr Brown, getting information about what is open to early service leavers, in particular, can be very challenging.

I think that 10 universities have signed up to the armed forces covenant—I saw the numbers just yesterday—but I accept your point that there is another way to join. A number of other universities take account of military service in their approach.

The honest answer is, as is the case with many things relating to the veterans community, that we probably do not do enough. Your line of questioning last week prompted me to commission a piece of work that will look more closely at whether we are doing enough to ensure that our universities are alive to their responsibilities—if that is the right word—in the context of veterans.

When individuals transition out of the armed services, it is incumbent on the military to equip them with the information that they require. We both know that the situation has improved over recent years, but it is not perfect. I will undertake—outwith the committee’s inquiry, because the work will take a bit of time—to write to Mr Brown and the committee with some detail on that issue, because he has set something in train.

I was laughing during that question at the idea that I do not expect my officials to act with urgency on pretty much every topic. They would probably laugh at that idea, too.

I understand the thrust of your argument in that, as a society, we seemed to be able to act with urgency during the pandemic, but I do not think that we have necessarily lapsed back into a less urgent approach. There is a lot to be done, and all that I can offer is the assurance that everything that sits in my portfolio is a priority.

Thanks for that.

I should say that the new UK veterans minister has been excellent to deal with thus far. I will add that issue to the conversation list for the next time we meet. There is a genuine and positive relationship between us and the UK Government on the subject. We are all committed to doing the right thing by our armed forces community.