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As outlined in the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning’s statement to the Parliament on 16 June 2011 and in my own speech to the colleges at their annual conference on the same date, a wider package of reforms on post-16 education will be set out later this year.

The issues for inclusion are currently being developed, but will be framed around the key criterion of improving outcomes for learning, and will take into account commitments and the resources available in the context of cabinet decisions about the Spending Review.

We will bring forward legislation about tuition fees for students from the rest of the UK in due course.

The Scottish Funding Council is in the process of mapping provision across further and higher education, at local, regional and national levels, and will be presenting their findings to the Scottish Government in due course.

Proposals on widening access for universities will be brought forward in a wider package of reforms on post-16 education, as mentioned in my response to S4W-696 on 23 June 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

We will work with local authorities, schools, parents and learners, to develop a new languages model that will increase the opportunities for young people to benefit from learning two additional languages and to develop the confidence and skills that they need to be successful in an increasingly globalised world. This model will have flexibility to enable local authorities and schools to agree the nature and content of language provision for the children and young people in their area, but it is envisaged that languages available would include both European and Asian languages.

The additional £15 million announced for college student support in February 2011 reinforces our commitment to protect college students from the impact of the UK Government’s decision to reduce the Scottish block grant by £1.3 billion. We intend to consider the future of financial support for college students as an important part of our wider plans to review post-16 provision by colleges and others.

This information is not held centrally.

There has been no compulsory redundancies in the Scottish Government, its agencies, NDPBs and non-ministerial departments during the period 2010-11. There is currently a no compulsory redundancy agreement in place for these organisations which runs up until 31 March 2012. There will, therefore, be no compulsory redundancies during this period. We do not hold information on other organisations.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-118 on 31 May 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

We will bring forward such proposals in due course.