PAPLS/S5/17/17/A

PUBLIC AUDIT AND POST-LEGISLATIVE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

AGENDA

17th Meeting, 2017 (Session 5)

Thursday 22 June 2017

The Committee will meet at 8.45 am in the Robert Burns Room (CR1).

1. Decision on taking business in private: The Committee will decide whether to take items 4 and 5 in private.

2. Section 22 report - : The Committee will take evidence on the Auditor General for 's report entitled "The 2015/16 audit of Moray College" from—

Nick Clinton, Director of Finance, Anne Lindsay, Assistant Principal, Peter Graham, Board Chair, and Murray Easton, Board Vice Chair, Moray College;

Clive Mulholland, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, and Fiona Larg, Secretary and Chief Operating Officer, University of the Highlands and Islands.

3. Section 22 report - College: The Committee will take evidence on the Auditor General for Scotland's report entitled "The 2015/16 audit of Lews Castle College" from—

Iain Macmillan, Principal and Chief Executive, Lews Castle College;

Clive Mulholland, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, and Fiona Larg, Secretary and Chief Operating Officer, University of the Highlands and Islands.

4. Section 22 report - Moray College: The Committee will consider the evidence heard at item 2 and take further evidence from—

Caroline Gardner, Auditor General for Scotland;

Mark MacPherson, Senior Manager, and Anne MacDonald, Senior Audit Manager, Audit Scotland. PAPLS/S5/17/17/A

5. Section 22 report - Lews Castle College: The Committee will consider the evidence heard at item 3 and take further evidence from—

Caroline Gardner, Auditor General for Scotland;

Mark MacPherson, Senior Manager, Audit Scotland.

Terry Shevlin Clerk to the Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee Room T3.60 The Scottish Parliament Edinburgh Tel: 0131 348 5390 Email: [email protected] PAPLS/S5/17/17/A

The papers for this meeting are as follows—

Agenda items 2 and 3

Written submission PAPLS/S5/17/17/1

Agenda item 2

PRIVATE PAPER PAPLS/S5/17/17/2 (P) PRIVATE PAPER PAPLS/S5/17/17/3 (P) Agenda item 3

PRIVATE PAPER PAPLS/S5/17/17/4 (P) PRIVATE PAPER PAPLS/S5/17/17/5 (P)

PAPLS/S5/17/17/1

Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee

17th Meeting, 2017 (Session 5), Thursday 22 June 2017

The 2015/16 audit of Lews Castle College and the 2015/16 audit of Moray College

Introduction

1. At today’s meeting, the Committee will take oral evidence from Lews Castle College and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) on the Auditor General for Scotland’s report entitled “The 2015/16 audit of Lews Castle College1”, and from Moray College and UHI on the Auditor General for Scotland’s report entitled “The 2015/16 audit of Moray College2”.

2. The Committee took evidence on both reports on 18 May 20173 from Audit Scotland and the Auditor General for Scotland and agreed to take further oral evidence.

3. Lews Castle College has provided a written submission, which is attached as an annexe to this paper.

1 http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S5_Public_Audit/Lews_Castle_S22_AGS_report.pdf 2 http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S5_Public_Audit/Moray_College_S22_AGS_report.pdf 3 http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S5_Public_Audit/OR18May(1).pdf

1

PAPLS/S5/17/17/1 ANNEXE A

Lews Castle College UHI submission to the Public Audit and Post- legislative Scrutiny Committee – June 2017 Governance Arrangements The Post-16 Education (Scotland) Act 2013 resulted in Lews Castle College UHI becoming an assigned College of the University of the Highlands and Islands. The existing Board of Management continued in place until 2016 when a new Board was required to be recruited under the new arrangements. Following a recruitment process, new Board members were appointed during 2016 as follows:

 4 members from 1 June 2016,  4 members from 1 September 2016  New Chair appointed from 5 September 2016

Since appointment, the new Board has been actively engaging in the work of governing the College in what continues to be a challenging environment. The Board is very aware of the challenges facing the College in terms of its financial situation and its difficulties in recruiting students and is working to address these. In addition to the formal committee business of the Board, separate all Board sessions have been held to consider Risk and the Curriculum:

 Risk register meeting on 15 December 2016, which resulted in a redefinition of the risk register and the development of an alternative opportunities register.  The Curriculum – 2 meetings on the curriculum (18 and 25 May 2017) which have resulted in the production of a Curriculum Action Plan which will now be followed and monitored to ensure that the curriculum offer from the College provides the post-school education benefits required in the FE Activity Targets and funding In the Autumn of 2016, SFC provided the region (UHI) with a model that could be used as a basis for allocating activity and funding to Colleges. This model has been developed and used as the basis for allocating activity and funding for 2017/18. As part of this exercise it was agreed that the activity levels to be set for Lews Castle College should be reduced from 6,376 Credits to 5,376 Credits, which is considered to be a more reasonable target and in line with the activity achieved in 2015/16 (5,131 Credits) and the expected final activity levels for 2016/17 (5,200). The College is happy to accept this revised activity level while acknowledging that it will remain challenging.

The reduction from 6,376 Credits to 5,375 equates to a reduction in targeted activity of 15.7%. The application of the funding model has resulted in the funding available to the College being reduced from £2,382,146 to £2,268,324 for 2017/18. This funding reduction of 4.8% will be a challenge for the College but the budget prepared for 2017/18 has been set to achieve a break-even position. To achieve the break-even position will however require the College to fully utilise net depreciation to meet the operational costs of the College. This was also the position in 2015/16 and is expected to be the position for 2016/17.

The College will continue to work with its partners in the Highlands and Islands and the to ensure that it continues to deliver the curriculum required by the Community it serves and that it does so in a financially sustainable way.

Iain Macmillan Principal and Chief Executive 12 June 2017