Latest news with #Scottish-domiciled
The National
2 days ago
- Business
- The National
English students could face automatic annual hike to tuition fees
According to the i Paper, ministers are looking at the move amid fears institutions may start to go bankrupt unless extra funding is injected into the higher education sector. If fees were tied to inflation south of the Border, they could rise by more than £250 next year to nearly £9800, and it could pave the way for them to hit or exceed £10,000 a year in 2027. Last November, UK Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson made the call to increase tuition fees in England for the first time since 2017, hiking them from £9250 to £9535 for students starting courses this autumn. The SNP Scottish Government has had a long-standing policy of not making Scottish-domiciled students pay for tuition in Scotland. READ MORE: Scottish Government hits back at Tory MSP over Nicola Sturgeon memoir claims Under the reported new system in England, fees would rise at the start of each academic year in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) inflation forecast (Retail Price Index excluding mortgage interest, or RPIX). Based on the OBR's current forecast, this would result in fees rising by 2.7% next year, from £9535 to £9792. Currently, ministers need to get both Houses of Parliament to approve secondary legislation to raise fees. Making the uplift automatic would provide universities with greater certainty about their long-term funding but it would require the Government to pass legislation which could expose ministers to yet another threat of rebellion. Asked directly about the subject on the BBC's Today programme on Thursday, Philipson did not say whether she would allow inflation-linked fees. She said: 'We did give universities an increase through the tuition fee increase that we delivered last year, but we'll be looking at all of these areas around the long-term financial sustainability of universities as part of that post-16 white paper that we'll set out later on this year.' It has also been reported the tuition fee increase could be accompanied by enhanced maintenance support to put more money in poorer students' pockets. READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon defends Kate Forbes over Fringe venue ban Vivienne Stern, the chief executive of Universities UK, said: 'Tuition fees are now worth only two-thirds of what they were in 2012 because for years universities weren't allowed to increase them to keep pace with inflation. 'Universities are tackling this challenge head-on, finding back-office savings and increasingly working together to become more efficient. However, the country needs universities firing on all cylinders if it is to get the economic growth everybody wants. That means they need to be funded sustainably with tuition fees linked to inflation year-on-year and their ground-breaking research properly funded.' Nick Hillman, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute think-tank, said that permanent indexation of fees was 'increasingly the assumption that university planners are operating under'.
Glasgow Times
19-06-2025
- Health
- Glasgow Times
Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP: 'Patients are waiting while ministers profit'
While practice staff are overwhelmed and patients grow desperate, a revolving door of SNP health secretaries have shuffled through office, out of their depth, armed with spin instead of solutions. When they do act, they fail to deliver. The GP contract was meant to reduce rising workload by bringing in wider support teams. Instead, seven years on, those teams never arrived, and GPs have been abandoned, forced to manage workforce shortages on their own. And amid the chaos which has left practices on the brink of collapse, SNP ministers still found time to give themselves a £20,000 pay rise. This isn't a hypothetical crisis – it's unfolding every day across Greater Glasgow and Clyde. There are now fewer than 232 GP surgeries serving more than 1.3 million people. Nearly a third of those practices have at least one GP vacancy. Many GPs are now responsible for 1400 patients, well above the national average. Patients are told to call back again and again. Some wait more than a week for an appointment. Urgent care is often delayed. And while patients wait in phone queues, health is quietly deteriorating. And here's the madness: all of this is happening at the same time as qualified GPs – trained in Scotland, ready to work – can't find a job, they're unemployed or, quite literally, driving Ubers to make ends meet. That's not just wasteful, it's unforgivable. It is SNP mismanagement in its purest form: desperate need on one side, underused expertise on the other – and absolutely no grip from those in charge. I declare an interest: I'm a practising NHS GP. Every week, I see the toll this takes on patients and on staff. I was also co-chair of BMA Scotland's GP Trainees Committee. I know the reality on the ground. I know what it feels like when the printer breaks, the phones jam and your last patient of the day needs more than 10 minutes. And I know what it's like when the Government is nowhere to be seen. The SNP once promised 800 more GPs by 2027. Instead, the number has dropped – from 4514 in 2022 to 4438 last year. They failed to plan for retirements. Failed to retain newly qualified GPs. And failed to create posts for the very doctors they trained. The Scottish Conservatives offer a serious alternative. We would prioritise training places for Scottish-domiciled students – those most likely to stay and serve. We would guarantee NHS jobs for Scotland-trained graduates, and we would increase the GP budget, ring-fencing funds to boost appointment access and keep practices open. We also propose a seven day a week GP-led service, backed by expanded NHS24 capacity and digital tools that cut bureaucracy, not care. These are real solutions to ease pressure on hospitals and ensure patients get timely treatment. This is what happens when policy is shaped by people who've actually done the job. Meanwhile, SNP ministers focus on headlines, not healthcare. Three health secretaries since the last Holyrood election. Promises made, promises missed and patients left behind. But this can be turned around. With real leadership, general practice can recover. It starts by listening to those on the front line – and finally putting patients first.
