Sir, I value the contribution unions are making to our college reforms, but I must draw the line at misrepresentation of the facts (Unions’ education fears, December 20).
Far from having a bleak future, our reform programme positions colleges as key players in the Scottish economy. Mergers are producing institutions of scale and influence and delivering significant efficiencies which will quickly outweigh our support for restructuring.
But we are not forcing mergers: instead, it is happening under the direction of the governing bodies concerned.
We have no plans to reduce college numbers to 13; indeed a number of colleges will remain independent entities in their own right.
We cannot shelter colleges fully from Westminster’s cuts. Nonetheless, we are maintaining student numbers and ensuring colleges play their part in delivering our Opportunities for All guarantee.
That is a significant commitment, including to many from disadvantaged backgrounds.
As for funding, college budgets are reducing over the next two years, but it is wrong to suggest that, on top of previously planned reductions, further cuts of £122 million are planned. Rather, it is the case that since 2011-12, we have been able to find extra money for colleges beyond that planned to the tune of £67 million.
I want trade unions to play a central part in helping shape and deliver college reform but based on a mutual commitment to progress and with learners at the heart of all we do. Michael Russell.
Cabinet Secretaryfor Education andLife Long Learning, St Andrew’s House, Edinburgh.
Funds could have been better used
Sir, It was with incredulity that I read that Perth and Kinross Council have passed planning consent to spend council money to replace an access road currently owned by Network Rail.
Surely council funds could be spent on more effective projects especially when the road proposal is not linking up with Network Rail plans for station improvements for the rail users.
Very few people in the local area use this station but it is not just due to the poor access road, it is more likely due to the lack of regular trains and the much higher ticket prices.
Better to travel to Dunblane or Stirling where there is disabled/pram access, security, safe parking and very regular trains at a much cheaper price.
I would ask how the new road is going to benefit residents in Auchterarder to walk or cycle to the station and suggest that the new road layout will mean a three-mile detour via Gleneagles which has no footpath.
A rethink is needed, or at the very least some collaboration. Am I being cynical if I suggest this is a rush job to satisfy the needs of the golfers in 2014?
Hilary Charles. Co-convenor, Scottish Green Party, Perth Branch.
Why the need to replace?
Sir, You report that Perth and Kinross Council has agreed to contribute £5 million to a project to replace the Perth Leisure Pool and Dewar’s Centre.
Why do they need to be replaced? The Leisure Pool complex is only 24 years old and received a major refurbishment five years ago.
The Dewar’s Centre is only 22 years old and according to Live Active Leisure’s own website offers a “state-of-the-art” curling rink and is a “first class business and function venue”.
Eileen Thomas. 50 Muirs, Kinross.
Wrong to use bard this way
Sir, I write to protest at Robert Addison’s letter (December 19) and using Robert Burns as a political tool in the Scottish independence debate.
It is absolutely disgraceful; how dare he use our national bard as political football?
He quotes a verse from a Burns poem containing the words: “That man to man, the world o’er shall brothers be for a’ that” as a reason for a “no” vote against an independent Scotland.
Maybe if our “brothers” south of the border had treated us as equals over the last 300 years there would have been no need for the “whingeing and grumbling” by the Scottish Nationalists or anyone else in this country.
T Tolland. East Park Cottage, Braidestone, Meigle.
Money wasted on Gaelic
Sir, Perth and Kinross Council is to spend over £300,000 on promoting the use of the Gaelic language, a language with little artistic merit and no practical value.
Whether the funding comes from Holyrood or the council it is immaterial since it is all taxpayers’ money, and the fact that the language has to be continually propped up like this shows that it’s dead on its feet.
Given the appalling level of literacy in English, the international language of the modern world, among school-leavers and university entrants, surely this money would be better spent on remedial tuition in English.
George Dobbie. 51 Airlie Street, Alyth.