 As stated, the next item of business is a statement by Shirley-Anne Somerville on widening access to higher education. The minister will take questions at the end of her statement, so there should be no interruptions, I call on Shirley-Anne Somerville. Minister, 10 minutes are there abouts please. Presiding Officer, this Government wants every child, no matter their background, to have an equal chance of going to university. Statistics show that currently that is not the case. Where you are born, the area that you grow up in conspires to make that harder, much harder, for young people from Scotland's most deprived backgrounds. That is not acceptable. That is why this Government established a commission on widening access and accepted all 34 recommendations in its blueprint for fairness. Crucially, we accepted its ambitious targets to widen access so that by 2030, 20 per cent of students entering university will be from Scotland's 20 per cent most deprived backgrounds. The Government also agreed to report on progress one year on, and I welcome the opportunity to do so today. I can also advise that we have published a written report of progress, which is now available on the Scottish Government website. I want to make clear, Presiding Officer, that not only are we making progress in relation to delivering the blueprint recommendations, but there are also clear signs of progress in terms of outcomes for our young people. The latest figures from UCAS from 2016 show a record percentage of 18-year-olds from the most deprived areas in Scotland entering university. The entry rate of 10.9 per cent represents a proportional increase of 51 per cent since 2006. What those statistics show is that there is change, just not at the pace that is required. That is why the widening access commission set out five foundational recommendations, which it determined were necessary to deliver the step change required. I can advise the Parliament that two of those foundational recommendations have been implemented, and the rest are currently on target to deliver to timescale. In December, I was pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Sir Peter Scott, a Scotland's commissioner for fair access. His knowledge, experience and commitment to equality and fairness are already playing a pivotal role in driving forward the system-wide approach that is required to create equal access. I want that to continue so that I can announce that Sir Peter has agreed to continue as commissioner for a further year. Indeed, it is the commissioner who is tasked with delivering the framework for fair access, a framework that sets out what works and how to deliver it, a framework based on robust evidence. Professor Scott has been clear that those working on access should play a key role in the development of the framework and that its main purpose should be to support and enhance the work that they do. To achieve that, he has convened a development group, chaired by Connor Ryan, a former commission member and director of research and communications with the Sutton Trust. The framework will be published in 2018 and will effectively set out a route map for delivery of fair access. The foundational recommendations also set an immediate challenge for government to provide a full bursary for students with care experience and for universities to guarantee them an offer of a place. I can advise that, from this academic year 2017-18, care experience students under 26 can apply for a bursary of £7,625 to support living costs. That mirrors the current minimum income guarantee for the least well-off students in higher education and will make a real difference to some of our most vulnerable young people. We have taken an inclusive approach to determining and defining care experience, listening carefully to the voices and views of people with care experience themselves. The result is that already over 100 young people with care experience have been awarded a bursary for study in 2017-18. We have been assured by institutions and by University Scotland that care experience is already considered during the admissions processes. It is vital, however, that that translates into students applying for entry in 2017, who meet at least the minimum admission standards being offered a place at university. The final foundational recommendation concerned the 2030 target and the milestones to be met in terms of increasing access in 2021 and 2026. It also included the target for individual universities that, by 2021, students from the 20 per cent most deprived background should represent 10 per cent of all full-time first-degree entrance at each university in Scotland. The Scottish Funding Council has integrated those targets into its outcome agreement guidance. Further from 2018-19, institutions have been advised that they will be expected to use the additional widening access places solely to support the intake of students from the 20 per cent most deprived areas in Scotland. I want to be clear today about my expectations of our universities. We can be very proud of our world-class university sector and the success that they deliver. Indeed, only last week, statistics were published showing that, in 2016, 35.8 per cent of workers in Scotland aged 25 to 64 were graduates, the highest percentage on record. However, there is also disparity between the universities in terms of the backgrounds of young people who study in them. That must change. Every young person must have equal chances and choices to study at any of our Scottish institutions. My first expectation for the coming year is that the Scottish Funding Council will ensure that the access targets being set through the outcome agreement process are sufficient to deliver our interim targets. By that, I mean not only the overarching national targets for all those for institutions and for full-time first-degree entrants. I also expect the funding council to monitor progress to identify where targets are not being met or where more challenging targets are required. I expect that to be done in a transparent way. To set out clearly and publicly the access related activity and ambitions being set by institutions through the outcome agreement process and to report the progress being made against them. Implementation of the commission's recommendations in relation to university admissions will be key to achieving those milestones and targets. In addition to more transparency around the admissions process, the commission recommended that all universities should set access thresholds by 2019. I am pleased that University Scotland has commenced work on that through an admissions working group. That is one of three working groups, with the other two focusing on articulation and bridging programmes. All three groups are due to report by early autumn, after which universities will then have to start implementing the recommendations. I welcome the leadership that University Scotland has shown in those areas. I am how also acutely aware of the lead-in time that institutions need to make changes to admissions processes and to ensure that those are communicated to prospective students in time for them to apply. Over the next 12 months, I would therefore expect universities to make clear and demonstrable progress in this area that will ensure delivery of access thresholds in time for the academic year 2019-20. Progress has also been made on a programme of work to take forward the data recommendations. The commission was clear that although the Scottish index of multiple deprivation is the most robust measure that we have at this time, we must develop more comprehensive methodology to identify the backgrounds of students. My officials are liaising with universities to identify the data that they currently use and need to go forward. The evidence base in this area is growing, with new research published in December and further research from Turner University due later this year. A group is now being established to determine the best measures to use and will deliver this work by 2018, in line with the commission's recommendations. In the past year, we have created an enabled space in which all our stakeholders in this agenda could explore and establish their thinking on how best to implement the blueprint for fairness. However, the commission was clear that a whole system approach would be needed to achieve our aim. That, therefore, requires the whole education system to work together to deliver collectively on the blueprint recommendations. I can therefore announce today the establishment of a delivery group to coordinate and monitor progress of implementation across all parts of the education system. That group will include those with a key responsibility for delivering aspects of change and by individuals and representatives with a wider stake in the outcome of our actions, such as NUS Scotland. It will, of course, involve Sir Peter Scott, our commissioner for fair access, and in recognition of the importance governance places on this group, I will be chairing that myself. The Government's work to reduce inequalities in higher education did not start and will not end with the commission's recommendations. We have introduced statutory access agreements and have invested £128 million in widening access and articulation prices over the past four years. This year, we also introduced 40 new places through our pre-medical entry programme, which aims to assist students from socially deprived backgrounds to enter medicine. Implementing the blueprint for fairness is undoubtedly challenging for everyone involved, but it also provides a significant opportunity to change our education system and, in the process, changes the lives of the young people who need equal chances and choices the most. The progress that I have set out today demonstrates that we are determined to address the challenge in order to deliver that opportunity. Minister, I will now take questions on the issues raised in this statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes with perhaps a little bit extra for questions, but please try to ask questions, not long statements, after which we will move on to the next type of business. To help the members who wish to ask a question, we would press the request to speak buttons now, and I call on Liz Smith to be followed by Ian Gray. I thank the minister for prior sight and I can also very much welcome the work that has already been undertaken by Sir Peter Scott, the universities themselves, the University of Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council. However, I ask two very important questions. First, whether the Scottish Government will address the concerns of Audit Scotland about the overall financial sustainability of the higher education sector and whether that will include the necessary financial resources to expand the number of university places so that there is minimum displacement of better-off students, many of whom are finding it harder to get into university these days, despite having top-quality entry qualifications. Secondly, according to the UKAS statistics that the minister mentioned herself, while the number of students from deprived backgrounds going to university is rising in Scotland, we still lag behind very considerably by, quite a bit, in percentage points from other UK jurisdictions. Could the minister explain why she thinks that that is happening and what plans she has to provide more bursary support? I thank Liz Smith for those questions. She will be well aware that, once again, the Scottish Government is investing more than £1 billion in the higher education sector, which demonstrates our commitment to the sector and our belief in the world-leading reputation that our higher education institutions have. She talks about increasing the number of places as if there is a simple solution to widening access, and all that we have to do is increase the number of places. That is a debate that is relevant and should be had, but we must bear in mind that there are other countries in which we can keep on increasing the number of places, and they still have a challenge around widening access. The commissioner brought up in front of the education committee when he talked about an increasing number of places not being the answer to dealing with widening access. The issue of displacement that I know is something that Liz Smith has brought up previously, but it does not recognise what came through very clearly in the commission's work. There is an inherent unfairness—a systematic unfairness—about the way that we currently distribute the publicly funded places that we have. That was very well demonstrated in the commission's work. We cannot simply assume that the best people are going to university or the best people will get to university if we continue to increase the number of places. It is much more complex than that. The Government is continuing to invest in widening access places through the Scottish funding council, and that is playing dividends, but we need to see a much more detailed solution to that. That is what I expect to come through the framework for fair access, which the commissioners are developing. Lastly, Liz Smith talked about UK comparisons. I would add some caution about making UK comparisons, not because the Scottish Government thinks so, but it is also something that the UK Government says is not helpful because we are comparing two very different systems. The figures, for example, down in England do not discuss the wide-ranging subjects that take place in our college sector. We simply cannot compare two different systems and look at the Scottish system up here and not recognise the amount of places that we have in our college sector, which also develop higher education within them. That is something that the commission recognised and recommended on. Our officials are working with officials from across the UK to look at how we can make UK comparisons so that we can make a genuine comparison comparing like with like. That is the only way in which we can provide a better solution at the end of that. Iain Gray, full by Jenny Gilruth. Thanks to the minister for early sight of her statement. The Government's purpose here is that every child, no matter their background, should have an equal chance of going to university is when we certainly share. I welcome the update and the progress that has been made, but I also agree with the minister that the pace of progress is too slow. Indeed, the 2021 target of students from the 20 per cent most deprived backgrounds representing at least 16 per cent of full-time first-degree entrance to university is a mere four years away now. The minister used a figure in her statement for 18-year-olds, but the funding council figures for under 21 entrants show that it has taken 10 years to get from 8.7 per cent to 10.4 per cent. In fact, the figure fell back slightly in the last year that it had in 2015-16. Does the minister really have confidence that the measures announced today will produce a leap from 10 per cent to 16 per cent in only four years? Secondly, the minister was sceptical about simple solutions, but one measure in which researchers such as the Sutton Trust have recognised as being effective was the ring-fenced funding of additional widening access places. However, that was abolished in 2016 as a result of higher education funding cuts. Will the minister reinstate that ring-fenced funding in order to meet the urgency of that looming 2021 target? Iain Gray is quite right to point out the challenge of reaching the interim targets. I have set out in my statement the work that the Scottish Government will do, the work that the Scottish Funding Council will do. Much of that will be completed by the institutions themselves. As members in the chamber are quick to point out to me, they are independent institutions from Government, and we need to work together with the sector to ensure that they are up to meeting that challenge. That is what I have laid out and what I have around outcome agreements about ensuring that there is full transparency and openness about how much there is a challenge within certain institutions to ensure that they reach their targets. Also, looking at institution by institution, there are many that are doing exceptionally well both in widening access and in articulation, and others it would be fair to say not as well as they should be. We need to shine a light on that practice to share the good practice. Iain Gray is right to point out a challenge with the pace of change. That is exactly why I have announced the foundation of the delivery group. We can bring together those individuals who are responsible for delivering that change, both inside and outside Government, so that we can work together towards that implementation. One of the most important parts will be around access thresholds in universities, not only having the working groups, but not only reporting from the working groups, but implementing that recommendation. That will have to be done quickly to allow the prospectoses to be put in place to meet the timetables. We are, as a Government, continuing to invest in widening access places. We have ensured that we will continue to do that. I pointed out in my statement how we are moving forward, for example, in medical places, to ensure that we are looking at the work that is required within medical training to develop greater widening access around that. It is something that the Government continues to take very seriously and continues to invest in. I have 10 back benchers wanting to ask questions, so I have got to ask please for crisp questions and crisp answers, please. Jenny Gilruth will be followed by Jeremy Balfour. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I remind members that I am the PLO to the education secretary. When we think about widening access to— No, I want a question. I expect you to set an example. Start with a question, please. Can the minister outline what role she sees for colleges as part of the widening access agenda? We very much do recognise within the Government the important role that colleges play in widening access. They often open the door for the first time to further and higher education from those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Articulation in particular is a stepping stone for those who begin at college and move on to a degree level. That is why I am keen to see further work on articulation and articulation with full credit. I am pleased that the University of Scotland has developed a work stream around that. The importance that we place on colleges is demonstrated by the fact that the commissioner will include a representative in the framework for fair access group, and I will include someone from the college sector in the delivery group that I have just announced. Jeremy Balfour, followed by James Dornan. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thank the minister for his statement. Can I go back to a point that was raised by my colleague Liz Smith? What advice would she give to parents whose children are no longer going to be offered a university place because they are not in that percentage? Should they go to England? Should they go to a job? What advice would she give to those parents? Short question. Do not develop it, minister. What I would say to any parents and to any young person is that they have a Scottish Government who is determined to ensure that all young people will have fair access and fair opportunity to university cities in Scotland. It will be done so on the basis of free education, so that we do not burden students with the level of debt that we are seeing down in England. I struggle to think why Jeremy Balfour would want to encourage us to look at what is happening in England, not only because of the level of debt that is happening down there, but because of the fact that the UK Government has taken away maintenance grants from new entrants into university. That is not something that this Scottish Government will be following, and I think that every parent in the country will be pleased that we are doing that. James Dornan, followed by Daniel Johnson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am delighted to see that the Government has delivered on its commitment to introduce a full bursary for care experienced young people. Can the minister explain the inclusive approach that she alluded to in more detail and how the age limit of 26 was arrived at? We considered carefully the options for eligibility for the bursary, and that was based on a range of evidence and discussions that my officials and I had with stakeholders, including from Who Care Scotland. We take a very inclusive approach to that eligibility. Anyone who has been looked after by a local authority has considered care experience for this bursary, with no timescale applied to that care experience, which might limit that eligibility. The age limit was arrived at to align with the current legislation to provide continuing care to young people, leaving care up to the age of 26 in Scotland. I was delighted to meet some care experience students at Strathclyde university this morning and discuss with them the real difference that it will make to them and to others in the sector and encourage care experienced young people to get into university. I was delighted to see that real progress being made this morning. Daniel Johnson will follow by Clare Haughey. Thank you. Given that the Government cut the maximum bursary available by almost £1,000 in 2013, can the minister confirm that the issue of student cost of living will be looked at by the development and delivery groups, and that they will examine the restoration and the improvement of bursary levels and eligibility thresholds? As the member will no doubt be aware, there is a review of student support on going at this time. Given that that is an independent review from Government, it will look at a variety of different aspects of the delivery both within higher education and further education and its impacts on students. I am aware that the commission recommendations suggested that the commissioner carry out his own research into student finance. He has chosen not to do so at this point, given the fact that there is an independent review already on going. However, the commissioner has met the chair of the view, Jane Arngadia, to discuss their work to ensure that there is no duplication and no gaps between that. They are working closely together. The commissioner will draw his own conclusions about whether he wants to make any further recommendations or carry out any research on that in his work programme. The minister outline how contextual admissions and access thresholds will ensure that talent is evaluated fairly and whether universities already offering grade adjustments have experienced a drop-off in academic standards. Clare Haughey is right to point out that many universities already use contextualised data within the institutions, and many of them make significant adjustments to entry tariffs. None of them have seen a drop-off in standards within that. It is something that I discussed with the admissions officers at Strathclyde this morning. They again spoke about the fact that there was no drop-off in standards because of contextualised admissions. It is very important that we recognise that there is a growing evidence out there that suggests that grades alone are a completely inadequate selection device for universities to use. People from the most disadvantaged backgrounds do just as well, if not better, than their more affluent players, even when their attainment on leaving school might be lower. There is no reason for that to have any disadvantage within the higher education institutions, but there is real advantage to them developing that work still further and ensuring that the good practice that happens within some universities and some courses goes throughout the entire system. Ross Greer, followed by Mike Rumbles. Given that the minister and the commission have emphasised the need for a whole system approach, could the minister clarify how the Government will ensure that barriers outwith the education portfolio, such as increasingly expensive public transport and exploitation in the private rental sector, are also addressed and not lost in a siloed approach that focuses on widening access to the education portfolio? Ross Greer makes a very important point about that. We need to look at a holistic consideration to the challenges that affect students, whether it is public transport, whether it is the cost of accommodation in halls or in the private rented sector. All of that will have an impact on students as they go through their university career. I am keen to ensure that, when we are looking at widening access, we do not just look at widening access to freshers fares, but we continue to ensure that we are looking at widening access to people completing their degree programme and completing it successfully. All of those challenges will need to be borne in mind as we do so. Mike Rumbles, followed by Ruth Maguire. I thank the minister for the advance copy of her statement. On Sunday, Andrew Neil pressed the First Minister five times. No, no, I want a question, Mr Rumbles. On the impact that putting grants has had for students from poorer backgrounds. I can come to the front bench if you want me to ask it from the front bench. You are a back bencher. I want your question, please. I am not a back bencher. I am a front bencher. I want your question, please. Well, you can have my question. I will ask it now. Does the minister believe it? Luke, sit down a minute. I am not getting into Barney's. The front benchers who get longer here are Ms Smith and Ian Gray. You are not down to speak longer than MDLs. You asked your question just like everybody else. Please ask it now. I will certainly take this up at the bureau. I dare you to speak to me like that. Do you ask your question now, please, and take that back? Does the minister believe that the decision to... I said you should apologise to the chair for that remark, Mr Rumbles. I am not happy. I am not happy either. I know you are not, but I am in the chair and you had an odd question. Please sit down again. Please sit down and take a moment yourself. I will take the next question while you are thinking about it. Ruth Maguire, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. What steps are the Government and universities taking to ensure that young people not only get the chance to go to university but can also sustain their place and complete their degree? As I mentioned in a previous answer to Ross Greer, retention of students plays a very important part in the discussions that we are having around widening access. There is a great amount of good practice that happens within our universities to ensure that support is given to students of whatever background they come from. There is also indeed much to learn from what goes on within the further education sector and within colleges about the front-line support that is given to them by the support staff within the colleges. All of that needs to be taken on board, a systemic approach to ensure that retention is taken very seriously by the universities, as I have every confidence that it is. Alexander Burnett, followed by Stuart McMillan, please. Can the minister confirm that the next stages of progress can be made via the outcome agreements agreed by the Scottish Funding Council and by the institutions and not by the introduction of further legislation? As I said in my statement, we are placing a great deal of trust in the outcome agreement and ensuring that the fact that we will draw together that information and its totality, so that each institution will have to report in a very public fashion about how it succeeds within the challenges that are set for the developments going forward. The outcome agreements are something that is still relatively new within the funding council, but they need to be taken very seriously by the universities, as I know they are, by the funding council. The commission suggested that both the Government and the funding council looked at other options if universities did not live up to the challenge that has been presented to them. However, I am confident that, given the continued assurances that I am receiving from universities Scotland, there is no reason for them not to succeed and not to meet the pace of change that is required. I would expect them to live up to that challenge. How does the minister intend to deliver the blueprint for fairness, which advocates the whole-system approach to achieving equal access and acknowledges that long-term change needs the involvement of the wider education system right from the earliest age? Stuart McMillan is very right to point out that we need a whole-system approach. It is something that the commission took very seriously within its deliberations. We intend to follow that through the Government, through the delivery group, to ensure that we better co-ordinate longer-term work. That will not only include, as I said during my statement, those who will deliver the recommendations that are specifically mentioned within the commission, but also individuals and representatives from the wider education system who have a responsibility to support, to challenge those of us who will be responsible for delivery of those recommendations. There will be a great deal of work undertaken to ensure that the widening access work that we do is taken very seriously across the entire education sector and that we continue to feed in not only what we are doing within the delivery group, but also, for example, in our work of the review of the learner journey to ensure that that whole-system approach is something that we deliver on. Does the minister believe that the decision to halve the value of grants and bursaries in the last five years is coherent with the objectives of widening access? I thank Mike Rumbles for that question. As I have already said to Mike Rumbles, the Scottish Government has a review of student support on going under the chair of Jane Angadia, who will look very seriously at the issues of student support. I should remind the member that the level of student debt within Scotland is still the lowest in comparison to the rest of the UK. The changes that have been referred to were done to ensure a minimum income guarantee and a combination of bursaries and loans. However, it is something that we have agreed to review. I look forward to the independent review chair by Jane Angadia bringing forward recommendations to me in due course. Thank you very much. That concludes questions for the minister. I will move on to the next side of my business and allow members and opportunities to take up their places. Short pause.