Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Debate: Abolition of the Scottish Funding Council Board

Liz Smith S5M-04286 That the Parliament recognises the key role and legal status of the current Scottish Funding Council board with regard to the financial and strategic management of Scotland's colleges and universities; is deeply concerned by the Scottish Government's proposals to abolish the board, given the limited evidence and consultation on this proposal; notes the proposals in The Crerar Review, which recommend that the Scottish Government should retain the current board; demands that the Scottish Funding Council retains its important functions beyond enterprise and skills, and therefore believes that the Scottish Funding Council must not just be a "delivery board" but also have the powers to act on its own initiative and to challenge government as well as to challenge further and higher education institutions. Shirley-Anne Somerville S5M-04286.1 As an amendment to motion S5M-04286 in the name of Liz Smith (Abolition of the Scottish Funding Council Board), leave out from "key" to end and insert "role played by the Scottish Funding Council as the statutory national body with responsibility for funding for teaching and research in universities and colleges; welcomes the report by Professor Lorne Crerar on governance and notes the conclusions, which will be considered as part of phase two of the Scottish Government’s Enterprise and Skills Review; agrees that the Haldane Principle, which says that decisions about what to spend research funds on should be made by researchers rather than politicians, must remain the foundation of research funding, and further agrees that there continues to be a need for a national body for further and higher education that works within this wider framework for enterprise and skills to allocate funding independently of the Scottish Ministers and to provide government with advice and challenge on issues relating to further and higher education."