BORDERS MP John Lamont has called on the SNP Government to provide funding for extra places at the Borders College.

He said that with a reduction in the threshold in student activity that the college must deliver as part of its agreement with the funding council, there is a risk that the number of student places could be reduced by up to 165 places.

Mr Lamont has now written to the SNP Government education secretary, Jenny Gilruth MSP, urging her to deliver the funding for an extra 200 student places.

He said: “It’s vital that we support Borders College to provide opportunities for young people and fill local skills gaps for businesses.

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“The college is pivotal to our local economy. By giving young people the tools that they need to succeed, it ensures that highly-skilled jobs remain in the Borders and more businesses are able to create jobs here.

"If the SNP Government provided funding for an extra 200 student places, it would allow Borders College to meet student demand and maintain the excellent level of experience they provide just now.

“I have written to the new SNP education minister urging her to support Borders College, instead of cutting its budget and letting down young people and businesses in our local area.”

A Scottish Government Spokesperson responded: "We understand the financial challenges and hard choices facing Scotland's colleges in the current difficult financial climate. That's why the Scottish Government is doing everything within its fixed budget to support the sector.

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"The 2023-24 Budget allocated nearly £2 billion to Scotland’s universities and colleges. This demonstrates our continuing commitment to tertiary education. This is despite the Scottish Government’s settlements from the UK Government suffering a decade of austerity with average real terms cuts of over 5% - equating to a loss of £18 billion.

"The Scottish Funding Council has been working closely with the college and university sectors to identify the best split of the available resources, taking into account Government priorities and each sector’s needs.

“The way the funding mechanism operates has also been carefully tailored for the 2023/24 academic year allowing colleges more flexibility to manage funding pressures and respond to local demand.”

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The text of the letter to Jenny Gilruth is as follows:

Dear Jenny Gilruth,

Congratulations on your recent appointment as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills.

I am writing to you today about a pressing matter in my constituency. The Borders College does tremendous work across the Scottish Borders to provide opportunities for young people and fill local skills gaps for businesses.

The college is pivotal to our local economy. By giving young people the tools that they need to succeed, it ensures that highly-skilled jobs remain in the Borders and more businesses are able to create jobs here.

However, I have been made aware that the Borders College is facing a real terms cut to its budget from the Scottish Funding Council.

This cut will risk a reduction in the number of student places by potentially up to 165 spots. It could also limit some of the services that the college provides.

It would be wrong, especially now when our economy is still recovering from Covid, to reduce opportunities for students and limit the potential for skills development. It would be a short-sighted move that could have negative knock-on consequences for many years to come.

It is particularly disappointing since the Borders College has been a resounding success story for many years. It regularly exceeds its target number of students and this year, I am aware that applications are already at a higher level than they were at this stage last year.

So I am writing to ask that you please reconsider and allocate funding for the Borders College to deliver an extra 200 student places.

In a few short years, this investment would pay for itself through the increased tax revenue we would gain from more young people going into work, more businesses being able to employ local people in skilled jobs, and our economy growing as a result of the increase in jobs and trade.

I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further with you and I hope we can reach a constructive agreement to do what is best for young people and businesses in the Borders.

Yours Sincerely,

John Lamont MP