Siobhan McMahon MSP

I was grateful to have the opportunity to speak  in this week’s Scottish Parliament debate on Further Education. My contribution can be viewed in full on the BBC Democracy Live website, at approximately 44.35.

The debate, called by Scottish Labour, handed the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Michael Russell MSP, the chance to correct his recent erroneous statements about college waiting lists and the Scottish Government cuts to the college budget.

Last October, when asked a perfectly straightforward question about college waiting lists by my colleague Neil Bibby MSP, the Cabinet Secretary refused to answer, dubbing the lists “a false concept”.

Shortly after, he offered a somewhat ingracious apology to MSPs after being forced to admit that the college budget has indeed been cut, contrary to his claims – made on two separate occassions – that it has risen.

Now, the Scottish Government’s own interim report into college waiting lists has revealed that, far from being “false concepts”, waiting lists definitely do exist and could extend to 13,000 places for the whole of Scotland.

Yet Mr Russell continues pompous and unrepentant as ever. He continued to deny the existence of “so called” waiting lists, and dismissing – seemingly inadvertantly - the evidence unearthed by his own Government’s audit as “nonsense.”

Mr Russell had previously claimed that the lists present a misleading  due to the prevalence of duplicate applications – students applying to more than one college. However, the interim report into 7 colleges found very limited evidence of deplication (about 9% of their combined waiting list). Moreover, the extent to which duplication can be cited as a legitimate factor varies according to the number of colleges in the area.

For example, communities in Lanarkshire have access to four colleges withing a relatively short distance. In stark contrast, those in the Falkirk area only really have access to Forth Valley College. It is unlikely, therefore, that applicants to Forth Valley, whether successful or no, will submit multiple applications.

Mr Russell can hid behind evasions and excuses all he wants. But the plain facts speak for themselves. You cannot cut over £50 million from the college budget without significant adverse impact: fewer courses, few teachers, fewer places, and higher waiting lists.

If this were not bad enough, we also learned this week that, in 2011-12, 490 fewer college students from deprived backgrounds received an education maintenance allowance than did in 2010-11.

As a recent report on the college sector by Audit Scotland baldly states, “colleges face significant financial challenges in the years ahead.” Some colleges are already struggling. Forth Valley College, for example, had an operating deficit of £2.4 million in 2010/11.

The real victims of Mr Russell’s delusions and denial are the thousands of prospective students  denied a place at college.

Colleges are a vital source of the skills and training that young people need to find secure employment or to progress on to higher education. Under Mr Russell’s stewardship, the prospect looks bleak for the college sector.

But it doesn’t need to be this way.

Scottish Labour has called up the Scottish Govenment to reverse its cuts to further education spending. If Mr Russell swallowed his pride and followed our advice, colleges could concentrate on what they do best: providing the skills, education and training to help our young people into work.