 The first item of business today is topical questions—general questions, sorry. Portfolio questions. As long as you're clear. Portfolio questions number one has not been lodged. Question 2, Lewis MacDonald. Thank you very much to ask the Scottish Government what impact the reported reduction in revenues grant from the Scottish Funding Council has had on the University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University. Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville. The Scottish Government has, for the fifth year in succession, invested more than £1 billion in Scotland's universities in 2016-17. The University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University, alongside all other of Scotland's higher education institutions, continue to benefit from the substantial investment that enables them to attract a range of additional funding. Lewis MacDonald. I'm sorry that the minister didn't see fit to answer the question about the impact of reduced funding on those universities. Of course, she will acknowledge that Aberdeen and RGU had among the largest reductions in teaching research and innovation grants in the current financial year, losing 3.9 per cent of those grants. She will also be aware that both have since made staff redundant and that further redundancies are planned. In light of the impact of this year's cut, can the minister say today whether universities in the north-east should expect to be among the hardest hit again when indicative grant figures are published for the next financial year, or will ministers this time take a different approach? The decisions on funding for individual institutions are made by the Scottish Funding Council and take a number of factors into consideration. That may be a challenging settlement for some universities and it does come at a challenging time for the north-east. We are working with the Scottish Funding Council and the sector to ensure that we secure greater efficiencies, maintain the benefits for learners and ensure that core outcomes remain a key priority. Decisions for future years will be undertaken as part of the spending review. Gillian Martin To ask the Scottish Government what their assessment is of the risks posed to universities in Scotland by the double hit of withdrawing from the European Union and its research funding programmes and the reluctance of the UK Government to consider Scottish universities as being eligible for post-study work visa programmes. The Scottish Government is a very outward-looking and inclusive country and it has benefited both socially, economically and culturally from the students, from the rest of the EU coming to study here and, of course, from the EU researchers and staff that we have. The consistent UK Government ambiguity on the status of the EU nationals and the planned point of Brexit is indeed hampering our universities, including those in the north-east, to protect Scotland's interests. We will be considering how we can ensure that higher and further education sectors continue to attract the best students from the EU and globally. We are, of course, disappointed that the universities are being excluded from the English tier 4 visa pilot and we continue to press the UK Government to introduce a post-study work visa in Scotland that makes the needs of our universities and our economy. Iain Gray Thank you, Presiding Officer. In spite of her protestations and reply to Mr McDonald, the recent Audit Scotland report made clear that funding for higher education has in fact fallen year on year in recent years. So will the minister simply commit to protecting the higher education budget in next year's budget due next month? Despite Iain Gray's invitation, I am not going to write Derek Mackay's budget today. Richard Lochhead Can I ask the Scottish Government what financial support it provides to Moray College UHI? Moray College funding is provided through the regional strategic board of the University of the Highlands and Islands. A combination of grant funding from the Scottish Funding Council and UHI provided a total of £8.467 million in 2014-15 financial year. In 2015-16, the amount of funding through UHI regional strategic board for the academic year was £8.483 million. Richard Lochhead Thank you to the minister very much for her answer. She may be aware that Moray College UHI and my constituency have provided evidence that they are underfunded by the time the funds go to the regional strategic body and are divided amongst the various colleges by around 10 per cent, which equates to around £0.5 million for their budget. I understand that the Scottish Funding Council is now giving technical support for that allocation formula to be reviewed. I would be very grateful if she could investigate this issue, because clearly the college has been underfunded in recent times, and hopefully now we can fix the formula so that it does not continue here on in, but clearly to develop new degrees and do its good work, we need to have an equitable share of the funding for Moray College UHI. The distribution of funding for UHI colleges is a matter for the regional strategic body UHI. To that end, I understand that UHI remains in very active discussions with Moray College for its funding for the future years, and is indeed waiting for further material for the college to move that process forward. I am sure that UHI will want to ensure an equitable settlement for the colleges across its region, consistent with the envelope of funding available. Since Moray is a matter for UHI, I will ask Moray College UHI to respond directly to Moray College UHI with further detail and keep Moray College updated. 4. Alexander Stewart To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has introduced to assist the college sector in responding to the needs of employers. The college sector has an increased involvement for employers as a result of the college manager process. Through the outcome agreements with the Scottish Funding Council, colleges are committed to delivering vocational pathways, apprenticeships and workplace learning in partnership with employers. 4. Alexander Stewart I thank the minister for her answer. Over the course of the first eight years of the SNP Government, the number of part-time students over the age of 25 fell from 179,685 in 2007-08 to 82,402 in 2014-15. That is a staggering reduction of 54 per cent. Will the Scottish Government commit to revising its decimation of the college places and improve the current situation that is forced upon students and employers? The Scottish Government has a target of full-time equivalent places of 116,000, and we have fulfilled that target. We are ensuring that the places that we have at colleges are based on what the economy needs. That does not just include full-time places, but part-time places. Those are particularly funded to ensure that they are based on the needs of the local economy and of local employers. That is for both part-time and full-time courses. Linda Fabiani I have recently learned of a fascinating trade skill that is carried out, which is scientific glassblowing, carried out in East Kilbride. It struck me that there are recognised skill shortages coming up. I have been told that, for scientific glassblowing, there is a great concern about a future skill shortage. I wonder whether there are particular incentives, initiatives and help that can be given to start-up college courses where there is a recognised potential skill shortage. The minister. Colleges respond very well to meet the demands for the employment demands in their area for particular employers. Linda Fabiani mentions one that is very specific to her area. I believe that the Society of Scientific Glassblowing has applied to the SQA for an awards qualification. In due course, if that qualification is granted, then colleges could offer that and ensure that people have a demand that can be met for that and a progression route into existing higher education courses. Daniel Johnson The Audit Scotland report, published over the summer on colleges, identifies that there has been a 6 per cent fall in teaching numbers. It also cites unison and EIS surveys that indicate high levels of dissatisfaction. What is the impact of the reduction in teaching numbers on the ability of Scotland's colleges to deliver high-quality education? Linda Fabiani The Audit Scotland report for colleges also highlighted that the feelings of students are very positive towards the courses that they are having in colleges. That is a high level of satisfaction. I am very pleased that that is happening within the colleges that we have at the moment. In many ways, that is due to the policies that the Government has put in place to ensure that we have a financially stable college sector built on what the economy needs in delivering for the local people. Tavish Scott To ask the Scottish Government when ministers last met the EIS and what matters were discussed. John Swinney I last formally met the EIS on 1 of June 2016, where a wide range of issues were discussed. In addition, I addressed their annual general meeting on 11 June and their head teachers conference on 7 October. The Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science met the EIS, Further Education and Lecturers Association on 9 November. I will see EIS representatives later this afternoon and again in December. Tavish Scott It was a very great flight. When the cabinet secretary meets EIS representatives later this afternoon, he might be prepared to discuss the SQA's performance following the evidence that was provided to the education committee this morning, where, on the physics higher assessment, the committee found that there had been three versions of the assessment in three years and 81 separate pages of guidance. In light of the widespread concerns that have been expressed to the education committee of this Parliament on the SQA's performance, is the cabinet secretary prepared to look at the performance of that organisation in light of those very real concerns? Tavish Scott I think that it is very important that the SQA is constantly mindful of the feedback that it receives from various stakeholders within the field of education in preparing the necessary examination processes within the country and to ensure that they command confidence amongst a variety of stakeholders. I say to Mr Scott my determination to make sure that the SQA undertakes that role and that it engages constructively with a variety of different parties as they prepare for the examination diet. In my discussions yesterday with the chief executive of the SQA, we were discussing the further raft of changes that have been agreed not by the SQA but by the assessment and qualifications group. It is important to remember that many of the changes and reforms that are made to the system are not made unilaterally by the SQA. They are made after discussion involving a very wide range of stakeholders. For example, in the assessment and qualifications group, which I personally chair, there are about 20 stakeholders around the room and we have to reach agreement about what are the necessary changes to take forward. I can assure Mr Scott that the issues that he raises are issues that are uppermost in my mind and uppermost in my discussions with the SQA. Monica Lennon The EIS has said that any education review must clearly set out what benefits it would bring to schools, teachers and pupils, but there remains a great degree of uncertainty surrounding the proposed regional boards. Can the cabinet secretary tell us today what practical benefits that proposed structural change might bring to teachers and pupils and to confirm whether he will once and for all rule out allowing schools to opt out of local authorities? On the second point, I have already answered that question in Parliament and I have answered it to Mr Gray on previous occasions. On the first point, on practical benefits of regions, what I am concerned to address is the fact that, on the information that is publicly available, there is a very wide range in performance by local authorities in adding value to the educational experience of young people in their schools. As Cabinet Secretary for Education, I am not prepared to turn a blind eye to that. It is not good enough that, in some parts of the country, some local authorities are not as good as other local authorities in providing educational development resources and support to schools. One practical benefit of the review that I am undertaking just now is that young people across the country would benefit from a stronger educational development resource as a product of the increased collaboration that the OECD called on us to ensure was the case within Scottish education. That would be deployed not just for some pupils within Scotland but for all pupils within Scotland, which is my priority as the education secretary. To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to disband the board of the Scottish funding council. The Cabinet Secretary for Education, Education and Skills and I face one of the enterprise and skills review that recommended the creation of a new single strategic Scotland-wide statutory board to coordinate the activities of Scottish enterprise, hands and enterprise, skills development Scotland and the Scottish funding council. Our intention is that, once established, this overarching board will replace individual agency boards while retaining the separate legal status of each of the bodies. The cabinet secretary must be aware of concerns in the sector, that the higher education sector, that their autonomy will be compromised if the funding council goes in the way that he has just described. Last night, the minister for higher education assured University Scotland last night that he should not worry that she understood the importance of their autonomy and that they will find those two statements entirely contradictory. Will the cabinet secretary think again and maintain the Scottish funding council and thereby the autonomy of our higher education institutions? The autonomy of the higher education institutions is derived from the status of the higher education institutions. There is total consistency between what I have just answered to Parliament and the statement that was made by the minister for higher and further education at the University of Scotland event last night. Of course, I am aware of the unease within the university. I can read the newspapers and I can watch BBC Scotland. Of course, I am aware of the unease, but I am also absolutely determined that our university sector will be an autonomous sector able to take forward and to exercise the same academic independence that it has today. The circumstances around the issues in connection with the board of the Scottish funding council are issues that we have to handle with great care to ensure that we can protect the independence of the university sector and to guarantee that there is no reason for the sector to have the concerns that it currently has. Liz Smith, you have just said what the minister said last night and welcomed comments about preserving the autonomy of the university, which was such an issue in the last Parliament. I was not standing that. When it comes to phase 2, the real concern is that the new board potentially would be chaired by a minister. That is where the concern is about the autonomy issue. In phase 2, can you rule out any circumstance where there will be Government control of the universities? I am very happy to rule out Government control of the universities. I will give that absolute cast iron commitment to Parliament today. There will be no Government control of the universities. As for the arrangements around the exercise of phase 2, the Government will consult comprehensively around those questions. I would point out to members that, in its response to the publication of the Enterprise and Skills Review, Universities Scotland said that universities fully support the drive to increase Scotland's productivity and inclusive economic growth, and we believe that Scotland has the assets that we need in our research base. We totally agree that Scotland must take a no-wrong-door approach to businesses, public sector and third sector organisations. Universities Scotland went on to say that they look forward to close engagement in phase 2 of the Enterprise and Skills Review, and that is exactly what the Government will deliver. To ask the Scottish Government how many primary school PE specialist teachers there are in this school year. The 2015 teacher census reports that there were 156 primary school PE teachers based in schools and 77 local authority centrally employed PE teachers in Scotland. Brian Whittle Given the recent worrying reports on the continuing decline in the activity of our children, it is not about time that the Scottish Government recognises that physical education is as much a specialism as every other subject. Under the Scottish Government, the number of PE teachers in Scotland has decreased dramatically by 17 per cent since 2011, which was a major area of concern raised to me by teachers at the recent Scottish PE teachers conference. The commitment of two of the periods of PE in schools is hugely devalued if specialist teachers do not take the class. Will the cabinet secretary take the physical education of our school children seriously, recruit more primary school PE teachers and reverse this decline in teacher numbers? This is not the first time that I have answered a question from Mr Whittle on the issue of physical education in schools. I am genuinely perplexed about what he is trying to achieve in the way in which he characterises the issues of physical education in our schools, because, if I can summarise what I have just heard from Mr Whittle, which is what I heard the last time that he questioned me on the subject, it was essentially a pretty negative assessment of the presence of physical education within our schools. I have just been to two primary schools this morning—I have just opened two primary schools this morning. It goes to show that the Government is building a lot of schools in our country that I had to open two of them, brand new schools this morning. Both of them champion the use of the daily mile as part of the physical education activity. If the daily mile is not good enough for Mr Whittle, I do not understand what his point is, because the daily mile is part of the physical activity of young people in our schools and part of their activity. There is another question that the Conservatives need to wrestle with. Last week, Liz Smith was here—I think that it was last week, maybe it was the week before—demanding that we had specialist scientists teachers in our primary schools and we have to have specialist primary teachers, and at the same time, the Conservatives come here in demand that we have to have more focus on literacy and numeracy. Far be it from me to point out that the Conservatives sound to me to be all over the place on their approach to primary education in this country all over the place, and worse still, they are prepared to devalue and to belittle the commitment of the teaching profession to encourage—they seem to be prepared to belittle and to demean the amount of activity and concentration on exercise within our schools. If Mr Whittle wants to influence this debate, he could take a more constructive approach than he would do. Could the cabinet secretary outline in more detail how the daily mile initiative is helping children and young people's future health and wellbeing? The focus on the daily mile is an integral part of encouraging young people to become involved in the daily and regular activity of exercise to take an interest in their wellbeing, which, of course, is a central part of the broad general education of encouraging young people to be more aware of their health and wellbeing. It contributes directly to ensuring that young people are exercising on a regular basis, which we all know to be of significant benefits. The commitment that has been given to the daily mile and the support that has been demonstrated towards that has been an integral part in taking forward the agenda of encouraging young people to be active and to benefit as a consequence. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with South Lanarkshire Council on the building of secondary schools. Government officials have had no recent discussions with South Lanarkshire Council regarding the building of secondary schools. I am aware that all 17 of the council's secondary schools are currently classified as being in good condition. However, through the Government's schools for the future programme, we are currently replacing three primary schools in South Lanarkshire, Spittle primary, Half Merck primary and West Main's ASN and Burnside primary, with the Government providing approximately £11.6 million towards those projects. I thank the cabinet secretary for his answer. There has been significant increase in house building within my constituency of Rutherglen over the past 10 years, particularly in the halfway and Newton area of Cambuslang. Unfortunately, poor planning by South Lanarkshire Council means that there has been a dearth of facilities to support this otherwise welcome expansion. Although there has been new primary school provision in the area, changes to the school catchment areas require pupils in the halfway and Newton to travel considerable distance to attend secondary school. Given the strength of feeling in the community for the provision of a new secondary school in halfway, what support can the Government give to South Lanarkshire Council to progress such an initiative? The statutory responsibility for the planning of school capacity rests with local authorities under the 1980s Education Scotland Act and the management of the school estate accordingly as part of their responsibilities. The Government has co-operated with South Lanarkshire Council over a number of projects to enhance that capacity. However, I recognise the significance of the issues that Clare Hockey raises on behalf of her constituents. I would be happy to have followed discussions with the member and with South Lanarkshire Council on this particular question to try to help to do all that we can to address the local issue that has been raised. To ask the Scottish Government whether the EU referendum has led to an increase in hate speech in schools, and if so, what action its education directorate has taken to tackle it? All forms of hate crime and prejudice are unacceptable. I am concerned by recent reports from the Murray House School of Education and the Educational Institute of Scotland about incidents of this nature, which highlights the need for constant vigilance. In relation to schools, we want all children and young people to learn tolerance, respect, equality and good citizenship to address and prevent prejudice. I welcome the equality and human rights commission's interest in the issue of prejudice-based bullying and have sought their input into the development of the refreshed national anti-bullying strategy for children and young people. I will carefully consider the issues raised by the committee, as well as anything further that can be done to support our diverse communities over and above our holistic approach to anti-bullying. Gail Ross I thank the cabinet secretary for his answer, and he has essentially answered my supplementary at the same time, so thank you very much. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that gifted and talented pupils in all schools are properly supported. Under the additional support for learning act, education authorities must identify and provide the support that their pupils require to overcome barriers to learning. That includes the additional support that is required by children and young people who are able pupils. The Scottish Government also funds the Scottish Network for Able Pupils to support the development and sharing of good practice in supporting able pupils. As the cabinet secretary will know, at several Royal Society events in recent years, there have been interesting discussions about how best to support particularly gifted and talented pupils from all parts of the country and all social backgrounds, in order to ensure that they receive specialist teaching appropriate to their needs. Will the cabinet secretary acknowledge that gifted children in whatever academic discipline are vitally important to the development of Scotland's economy, and could he update the Parliament on what support is being provided? I acknowledge the point that Alison Harris makes, and I recognise the significance of able and gifted pupils being able to make a significant contribution and to fulfil all of their potential within Scotland. The Government currently funds the Scottish Network for Able Pupils, which is a network of support to schools and teachers to assist through the sharing of ideas and practice to enhance educational support for such young people. SNAP also runs workshops for young people and provides advice to parents to assist them in that respect. A number of resources have been developed for practitioners and parents to help them to support highly-able children, including a number of what are called snapshots, which can be used as a starting point for developing activities for highly-able learners. Question 11, Sandra White. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what training opportunities are available for people over the age of 25. Skills Development Scotland, our national skills agency, provides professional careers advice and training support to individuals of all ages. We also fund in what support via the SDUC Scottish union learning programme. We support people in employment through a range of programmes, including modern apprenticeships, skills training, employability and work experience through the private, public and third sectors. I thank the minister for that reply. I know probably amongst other members, I have had many constituents over the age of 25 who find that they cannot get apprenticeships or get into training opportunities. I thank the member for giving me that reply. Can you perhaps, minister, provide assurances that the people over 25 will be afforded perhaps the same level of opportunities as those at the moment under 25? Let me thank Sandra White for her supplementary question. Clearly, I do not know the specific circumstances of her individual constituents. What I can say to her is that there are, in fact, a number of modern apprenticeships frameworks that are specific frameworks that allow for those over 25 to be eligible. There is a long list of them here, Presiding Officer, which I will be happy to provide to Sandra White. I can also say that, at the end of October, I committed to assessing whether we can look at embedding further flexibilities across other frameworks. I will always be willing to consider whether there are other things that we can do, but if Sandra White has any specific issues to do with any specific constituent or any other member, she can write to me and I will be happy to look at what we can do. Question 12, Mark Ruskell. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will issue guidance to schools regarding how the money raised through its council tax reforms can be spent to raise attainment levels. Presiding Officer, next month we will launch a framework of fully evidence and proven educational interventions and strategies to help to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap. The framework will inform the decisions that schools make to spend the additional funds and we will monitor the impact on improving children's progress. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response and I welcome the production of the framework. Regardless of the reasons why councils find themselves in very difficult financial circumstances at the moment, the fact is that, cabinet secretary, that they do. You will be aware that there are cuts taking place right now to SLAs and additional support across Scotland. That is having an impact on the workload of teachers and their ability to innovate, particularly around literacy and numeracy. Will you ensure that schools are able to spend funds on whatever is appropriate to drive attainment? That could be filling gaps in SLAs, additional support for learning or behavioural support. The first thing that I say is that I acknowledge the relationship between teacher workload and the ability to deliver learning and teaching, which closes the poverty-related attainment gap. I accept that there is a connection between those two things, which is why I have spent so much time over the course of the last few months trying to reduce what I would describe as the unnecessary teacher workload. The purpose of that is to create the space to enable the concentration on learning and teaching, which Mr Ruskell has highlighted in his question. I acknowledge that many of the techniques and interventions that Mr Ruskell has raised will undoubtedly be part of the framework that we bring forward and which we would look to individual schools to take forward to make a profound impact on the educational attainment of young people. I accept the line of argument that Mr Ruskell makes of the importance of schools being able to make those judgments, and the framework that we have put in place will assist them in doing so. Jenny Gilruth Can I ask the cabinet secretary what specific steps have been taken to reduce teacher and pupil workload, and what role the new benchmarks will play in that? The purpose of the new benchmarks is to ensure that we address the uncertainty that exists within the teaching profession about the levels of achievement and attainment that should be marked by young people at different stages in their educational journey. The feedback that I have had from members of the teaching profession is that the benchmarks that have been published so far have significantly enhanced the ability to do exactly that. Those benchmarks will help to give clarity to remove some of the workload that has been created in trying to search for those answers by the teaching profession and then open up opportunities for a greater concentration on learning and teaching, which is exactly the point that I was making to Mr Ruskell in my earlier answer. Thank you cabinet secretary. Could you confirm whether or not some of the money that is raised in one council for the attainment fund could potentially be spent in another council area? As Liz Smith, I would have thought that we would be aware that all council tax money raised in a local authority area will be retained in that local authority area. That is the position that the Government has set out. Of course, what we are engaged in is a discussion with local authorities about how we take forward the wider implementation of this policy commitment, but all council tax money raised in one area will be retained in that one area. Question 13, Stuart Stevenson. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update to its plans to review the Protecting Vulnerable Group scheme. The Deputy First Minister spoke at Disclosure Scotland's stakeholder event in Glasgow on Monday, in which he outlined the broad themes that the PVG scheme review would look at digital delivery of services, the importance of safeguarding vulnerable groups and the financial sustainability of the scheme. Between now and the end of February 2017, Disclosure Scotland officials will continue engagement with stakeholders to develop terms of reference for the review. Once that work is completed and the terms of reference have been agreed by ministers, I will write to the convener of the Education and Skills Committee and arrange for the information to be provided to SPICE. That is a very welcome and up-to-date set of information that the minister has provided. Disclosure Scotland plays an important part in ensuring that vulnerable groups are protected. Can the minister provide further information about how, in particular, he might see the disclosure system emerging from the review that is being undertaken? Obviously, the review will cover aspects of the 2007 act, namely the listing and barring functions under part 1 and the vetting and disclosure functions under part 2. The important thing is that we ensure strong stakeholder engagement as part of the review. During the stakeholder event that I spoke of on Monday, officials offered attendees the opportunity to become involved in the work to devise the terms of reference for the review, and 39 individuals representing organisations in the regulatory, public, private and voluntary sectors in Scotland signed up. Officials will take forward further discussions with those individuals with who cares Scotland, recruit with conviction and also with members of the Disclosure Scotland stakeholder advisory board with a view to presenting terms of reference for the review to me by the end of February 2017. That would be the appropriate point perhaps to respond to Mr Stevenson in relation to where the review will cover once we have had the opportunity to flesh out those terms of reference. Question 14 has not been lodged. Question 15, Gordon Lindhurst. To ask the Scottish Government what effect it anticipates leaving the EU will have on university student numbers studying in Scotland. Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville. The continued ambiguity of the UK Government on the future immigration status of EU students and students from across the world for that matter is hampering planning by universities across Scotland. We have responded to university and student concerns by ensuring that current eligible EU undergraduate students and those starting courses next year will continue to be entitled to free tuition. However, the UK Government needs to share its plans for the immigration status of the EU and other students urgently. Over 13,000 EU nationals studying full-time degrees at Scottish universities in 2014-15 were funded from the same public pot as Scottish students. Audit Scotland has recognised that Scottish students are finding it increasingly difficult to access university. If, and it is only an if of course, EU student numbers fall, will the Government be better placed to meet its own target for getting more Scottish students from poorer backgrounds into university, or will it continue to fail on that front? The number of Scottish domiciled students from poorer communities is indeed rising, and the Government is committed to ensuring that we will follow all the recommendations of the commission for widening access, and that will improve that still further. It really does beg our belief that the Conservatives are trying to ask the Government to make a policy on what happens when we do not know what the immigration status of EU nationals will be, we do not know when any change will happen, if it will happen at all, and what the actual timetable for any of the Brexit negotiations will be. With that background coming from the UK Government, it really is a bit rich to ask a hypothetical question for the Scottish Government to take a decision on EU national students. George Adam. The minister brings up a valid point. Does the minister agree with me that it is quite rich for a Tory MSP to come to this chamber and ask the Scottish Government about the impact of something that the UK Government colleagues have caused? Does the minister agree that the decision by the UK Government, like refusing to include Scottish universities in the post-study work visa pilot scheme, is deeply damaging to our universities? George Adam raises a very important point. As I responded to Gillian Martin earlier, the decisions that are being taken by the UK Government on immigration are highly damaging, rather that is our exclusion from the English tier for visa pilot and the implications that are coming from the Home Secretary, that somehow we should further limit the international students that contribute so much to our economy and our community. We will continue to oppress the UK Government to introduce a post-study work visa for Scotland that meets the needs of our communities and our universities. To ask the Scottish Government what are its plans to ensure that every child has access to its entitlement of 1,140 hours of free childcare provision. We have published a blueprint for 2020, the expansion of early learning and childcare in Scotland consultation, which sets out the Scottish Government's vision for transforming early learning and childcare, which is underpinned by the four principles of quality, flexibility, accessibility and affordability, and seeks views on the key policy choices required to deliver this vision, including future funding options and models of delivery. We will publish our response to the consultation in spring 2017. I thank the minister for that answer. However, birthday discrimination still remains a problem and charities such as fair funding for our kids continually highlights this issue. Surely the Scottish Government can agree that it is unacceptable that which months you are born in can dictate your allowance of childcare. Peter Chapman raises a point that the Conservatives have raised on more than one occasion. However, it is worth noting that local authorities have the flexibility to offer early learning provision to those children that he cites should they choose to do so, and in some local authorities they do just that. However, in order for this to be applied across the board, we estimate that it would cost in the region of £26 million over and above that, which is currently being spent. If the Conservatives wish to spend extra money, they have to come to this chamber and tell us where they would find it from. Could the minister outline how much money the Scottish Government has provided to local authorities to deliver 600 hours of free early learning and childcare and how much of the funding councils have spent? The financial review of early learning and childcare was published in September, highlighting that we had provided £329.2 million of additional revenue and £170 million of additional capital to support the delivery of the expansion of entitlement to 600 hours. The review indicates that, over the same period, local authorities spending on early learning and childcare in revenue terms increased by £189.1 million, while capital spending was £17 million in 2014-15, yet additional capital funding of £71 million was provided in that year. While COSLA has provided new information to the education committee, we consider that the original figures that were provided to us by councils and reported in the financial review remain robust. However, we will study COSLA's letter and information with interest, and I am sure that the education committee will continue to maintain its strong interest in those matters. However, what is obviously clear from the information in the financial review is that we have fully funded our commitment in terms of early learning and childcare expansion.