A cross-party motion has called on the Scottish Government to intervene and end a long-running pay dispute between college staff and employers, while the government minister for higher and further education suggested that a revised offer from employers is imminent. 

The motion was brought by Labour MSP Richard Leonard, who said that it was time for the Minister of Higher and Further Education Graeme Dey to step in and “exercise his authority” to facilitate an end to the dispute and fund a pay deal. 

He urged the government to reverse recent cash cuts to the college sector budget, saying that compromising colleges will disproportionately impact society’s most vulnerable.

“These cuts to further education funding will mean cuts to student places, and they will be cuts to student places for the most marginalised in society. 

“For some of those students, it will mean the difference between engagement with the education system or being driven to social disengagement and isolation at home.

“For others again, it will mean the difference between engagement with the education system or engagement with the criminal justice system. 

“Further education colleges provide huge community benefits. They are a part of our social infrastructure and our economic future.”

In arguing for his motion, Mr Leonard added that colleges provide opportunities that do not exist elsewhere in the education system.

“Too often, our education is built on the premise that if at first you don’t succeed, you don’t suceed. People deserve a second chance, and that’s what further education and training is about.”

SNP MSP Fulton MacGregor said that shrinking the college sector will have economic consequences.

“This spiral of decline is most tragic because our industries are crying out for these skills.”

Conservative MSP Graham Simpson said that lecturers deserve a fair deal, but that the pay dispute is a symptom of a larger financial crisis in the sector.

He referenced The Herald’s recent investigation into Scotland’s colleges, and the £500 million funding gap in the college sector over the past three years.

“I heard that the Scottish Funding Council kept a list of the colleges that were in the bleakest financial state," he added, referencing previous SFC reports of four colleges facing "significant cashflow issues.

The SFC has refused to name these colleges, even after the names were requested through multiple Freedom of Information requests. 

“The fact that they exist should be a badge of shame for the minister and his many predecessors.”

He referenced recent news report of colleges cutting courses, considering curriculum changes and conducting sweeping financial reviews that are putting courses and student services at risk. These courses should be given more credit and more support, he said.

“Universities get more of the limelight and more of the funding, but you could argue that colleges and their course have more value.”

Read more: What happened when we investigated the college sector?

MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, Labour’s shadow cabinet secretary for education, called colleges the “engines of our future” and said that they represent Scotland’s best opportunities to meet the goals set out in The Promise.

“Not only are they key to widening access, but they are also the embodiment of it.”

She also referenced recent statistics reported in The Herald that significant proportions of college students are from the most deprived postcodes, that more than a quarter of all college credits are awarded to disabled students, and that almost 10% of credits go to students from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Green MSP Ross Greer called it a “clear example of class inequality” that college industrial actions have waged for so long, with far less political and media attention than is normally given to similar disputes in schools or universities.

Colin Smyth LAB said that repeated budget cuts from the Green and SNP Government contributed to the current funding concerns for colleges and industry shortages.

“Every single week, I speak to local businesses about the labour skills and the shortages they face.

“Yet at the same time, I speak to my local colleges who tell me they are having to axe apprenticeship places, remove courses, make staff redundant because of the brutal cuts to college budgets year, after year, after year, voted for by Green and SNP MSPs.”

Read more: Skills shortages could put net zero at risk, but colleges have an answer

He called on newly elected First Minister John Swinney to end the cycle of disruption and help get lecturers and students back into the classroom.

In response to the motion, Minister Graeme Dey said that it asks the government to find money from elsewhere in the education budget to fund the EIS-FELA pay claim. 

"The government is in no position financially to [meet trade union demands.]"

Read more: Attempts to reform college national bargaining at risk

He also referenced an independent report suggesting that Scottish Government intervention has not been helpful in previous disputes.

The government-commissioned "Lessons Learned" report from Strathesk, published in 2022, did suggest that a reformed national bargaining system would not need government intervention and emergency funding to resolve disputes.

However, government intervention has resolved multiple disputes in the past 10 years and the report also states that "resources (financial and support) are likely to be needed from the Scottish Government" to implement the report's proposed reforms to national bargaining. 

He reiterated the government position that it is up to employers and trade unions to negotiate a settlement.

"Our intervention would fundamentally alter the nature of the voluntary national bargaining process."

He suggested that employers met on Tuesday to agree to a revised three-year offer to take to trade unions at the next National Joint Negotiating Committee for colleges.