Watchdog issues scathing critique of Scottish government's pledges for post-school education
Scotland’s post-school education and skills sector is vital to the economy but the pledges the Scottish government made to the sector are lagging behind
A scathing probe into Scottish government plans for post-school education and skills reform should be a “wake up call” to ministers.
Scotland's Auditor General has said plans suffer from inadequate resourcing, weaknesses in governance arrangements, and a lack of understanding of costs, impacts and outcomes.
Stephen Boyle’s new report tells ministers they should develop a meaningful delivery plan and strengthen leadership in the next six months.
Meghan Gallacher, Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman, called the report a “damning verdict” on “slow progress, inadequate funding and weak oversight”.
“John Swinney’s government has ignored calls from industry for a focus on the skills that businesses really need.
“As a result, they can’t deliver those reforms, which are crucial to jobs and economic growth,” she said.
“The Auditor General’s report should be a wake-up call to SNP ministers to reverse their savage cuts to college funding and get a grip of further education and training.”
Post-school education and skills provision covers learning and training through college, university, and apprenticeships.
The sector has been under increasing strain in recent years as pressures bear on finances, restrictions on overseas students and mass redundancies.
The report said legislation passed in March to simplify the funding body landscape is a significant milestone but overall progress has been slow.
It also highlighted that financial sustainability of the post-school system has been “increasingly volatile” in recent years.
It pointed to the Auditor General’s 2025 report which highlighted the college sector has faced “extremely difficult financial challenges”.
The 2026/27 Scottish budget provided a 10 per cent increase in funding for the college sector, however this is in the context of a 20 per cent real-terms reduction in funding for colleges between 2021/22 and 2025/26.
Mr Boyle said: “There’s a concerning gap between intent, planning and progress to deliver post-school education and skills reform.
“A lack of clarity on outcomes, insufficient skills and resourcing, gaps in governance, and uncertainty over the costs and benefits must be addressed.”
He went on to criticise the Scottish government’s poor communication with the sector.
Scottish Labour spokesperson for Tertiary Education Jenny Young said “The SNP promised education reform in the aftermath of the pandemic – but here we are six years and three First Ministers later.
“Colleges, universities and apprenticeships are absolutely vital for our young people’s success and Scotland’s economy, but on the SNP’s watch colleges have been cut to the bone, universities are struggling and apprenticeships are underfunded.
“The SNP has utterly failed to join up skills and training with the needs of Scotland’s economy.”
Ms Young called the report “scathing” and said it must act as a “wake up call” to the SNP “who have dragged their heels on vital education reform and let our young people down”.
“We need an education and skills system that creates opportunities for the next generation and trains up the workforce Scotland needs,” she added.
The Scottish government has said it invests more than £3 billion in this sector each year, and the funding is currently delivered through three public bodies: Skills Development Scotland, the Scottish Funding Council, and the Student Awards Agency Scotland.
The Auditor General said the reform programme, which aims to create a simpler system, more responsive to Scotland’s economic and social needs, has multiple risks to delivery, including inadequate resourcing, weaknesses in governance arrangements, and a need to still fully understand costs, impacts and outcomes.
In January 2026, the Scottish Parliament passed the Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill.
It set out a raft of changes, including the establishment of a new apprenticeship committee and a requirement for a National Funding Strategy with the ability for ministers to set funding priorities.
Tertiary Education Minister Ben Macpherson said: “I respect Audit Scotland’s ongoing scrutiny. However, people should be reassured that we're already pro-actively working to address much of what they recommend, and we are making meaningful and impactful progress.
“We began a refresh of the Post-School Education and Skills Reform Programme in January 2026, to drive forward improvements, and we will update the Scottish Parliament on this in early autumn.
“We are working collaboratively with industry, educational institutions, and other stakeholders on this refresh, and are confident that together we can deliver further, significant improvements.
“In addition to passing landmark legislation in January 2026, which will streamline funding provided for post-school education and skills training, there has also been strong progress on the transfer of responsibility for the funding of further education student support from the Scottish Funding Council to Student Awards Agency Scotland.”
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