OPPOSITION parties have called for a rethink over cuts in college funding before this week's vote on the Scottish Government's Budget.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats spoke out after Finance Secretary John Swinney said the issue was still under consideration and discussion.
Mr Swinney, now part of a majority SNP Government which does not need to win opposition support to pass its Budget, said he remains keen to achieve a broad parliamentary consensus around his proposals.
Last week, the Scottish Government announced extra cash for housing, job programmes and roads after looking at how it should spend additional money it will receive for 2011/12 as a consequence of Westminster spending decisions.
The Conservatives also led a debate in Holyrood calling on Parliament to "condemn the Scottish Government for forcing on the [college] sector deeply damaging financial cuts".
Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith told MSPs: "They are being asked to cope with funding cuts of £544 million to £470m, progressive cuts of £38m in year one, £50m in year two and £74m in year three. So by 2015 there is an annual cut of £74m."
Mr Swinney – who will bring his Budget (Scotland) Bill back to Holyrood on Wednesday for a final vote – yesterday said he is receiving opposition "pressure" over areas such as sustainable travel budgets and college funding.
He said he was "looking carefully" at those points.
Specifically on the issue of funding for colleges, he said: "It's an area that's still under consideration and discussion, but what I would say is that there has been material change in the Government's Budget since it was announced in September."
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: "John Swinney has a real opportunity this week to show his support for Scotland's colleges and reverse his cut to this sector with the extra money he has from Westminster.
"Mr Swinney says that economic growth is the Scottish Government's number one priority but he is choosing to cut an area that is vital for tackling unemployment.
"Scotland's colleges help people from a range of different backgrounds get up and get on, and in this current financial climate they are vital for Scotland's economic growth."
Labour MSP Ken Macintosh added: "If John Swinney is changing his position on massive cuts proposed to colleges, that is welcome."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article