The Scotsman Bulletin Wednesday November 13 2024

The Scotsman

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's daily video bulletin for this Wednesday.

00:04My name is Dale Miller.

00:05I'm Deputy Editor at the Scotsman and I'm joined by our Education Correspondent Callum

00:10Ross.

00:11Callum, I want to talk to you about a really strong and important exclusive you've got

00:17for us today, but we should reference the front page of today's Scotsman firstly.

00:22And we led on obesity levels in Scotland climbing to a new record high, 32% of the adult population

00:30now classified as obese.

00:32That's up from 24% in 2003, so quite a significant rise over the past two decades.

00:40And it also comes as research found the number of Scots worried about running out of food

00:45had risen as well, tied back into obviously a significant part of the country dealing

00:52with the cost of living crisis.

00:55It's an important story.

00:56That leads the Scotsman.com as well as WellBe quitting.

01:01And we see on the front as well, Callum, the exclusive from you, it's about the Edinburgh

01:06University head and their pay going up at a time when it may not politically make a

01:14lot of sense.

01:15Can you talk us through that one?

01:16Yeah, that's right, Dale.

01:17I mean, I think there's been controversy or certain questions about the size of Sir Peter

01:25Matheson's salary at Edinburgh University pretty much since the moment he was appointed

01:32back in 2018.

01:34It was £342,000 then.

01:40That's just the salary, you know, not the full total package, double the Prime Minister's

01:46salary if you want to look at it like that.

01:49Now, to be fair to Sir Peter, I think it's important to point out that, you know, he

01:54hasn't set his own salary.

01:57I don't think any of the university principals in Scotland do.

02:00That's set by remuneration committees established by the universities, and they tend to feature

02:07kind of members of the ruling court.

02:09Also, you know, should point out, Edinburgh University is one of the, you know, top 30,

02:14top 50 universities in the world, close to 50,000 students, 16,000 staff, revenue of

02:22over a billion pounds each year.

02:24So it's a big organisation.

02:26And, you know, Sir Peter also has turned down pay rises in, I think, three or four years,

02:322019, 2020 and 2022.

02:36But last year he did accept a 3% pay rise.

02:41That took his salary up to £348,000.

02:45That's his basic salary and a total package of £418,000.

02:51And now our story today has revealed that a further 5% increase was agreed earlier this

02:59year by the remuneration committee and accepted by Sir Peter.

03:04We think the university isn't going to go into the numbers, but we think that's worth

03:08about £20,000, the increase.

03:11The problem for him and the university, I think, as you kind of referenced at the start,

03:15is that this has sort of emerged at a time when Sir Peter's really kind of overseeing

03:21big cutbacks at the university.

03:23He wrote to staff this summer telling them they were going to be cutting spending across

03:29all areas.

03:30There's basically a recruitment freeze, not quite a total freeze, but big constraints

03:37on recruitment.

03:38And that's because of the pressures in the higher education sector, the financial pressures

03:46And there's also, it's got to be said, there's been already a fair amount of negative headlines

03:51about spending in relation to the principal.

03:58There's been coverage of the amount spent on the upkeep of the home that's provided

04:01for him in Edinburgh's Regent Terrace.

04:05He gets that for free, he gets his bills paid for him, and all the rest of it.

04:11I think that was the point made by the staff representative, Sophia Woodman, the president

04:17of the Edinburgh UCU branch, when I spoke to her yesterday.

04:21She thought that staff would be horrified at this uplift and kind of pointed out that

04:26he doesn't, with that kind of salary, he's not affected by the pressures of the cost

04:32of living crisis like other staff members.

04:36And she pointed out that staff are really struggling dealing with these cutbacks across

04:41the university.

04:42So I think it will be, it'll certainly be noted with interest by a lot of staff at the

04:47university.

04:49Callum, I know you've written specifically about the situation at Edinburgh University

04:53here, but I mean, there's a wider narrative around cuts across the sector, isn't it?

04:58You wrote last week about Robert Gordon University up in the North East making significant cuts

05:05as well. And it does feel, coming into the next couple of months in the Scottish budget

05:11at the start of next month, that we may not have heard the last of that cuts across some

05:16of our most prestigious universities.

05:18That's right. I mean, you know, we don't know the details of what's going on at every

05:23university, but certainly, you know, we've heard about job cuts, like you say, at Robert

05:28Gordon University, Aberdeen University, you know, had its issue with the accounts earlier

05:34this year. It couldn't even guarantee that it would continue as a go in concern for the

05:39next year. You know, it's a 500 year old institution.

05:43There's talk of kind of mergers at the University of the Highlands and Islands.

05:47I think we've mentioned the restraint at Edinburgh University, it's pretty much across

05:53the board. And yeah, I mean, unless, certainly the message from the sector is, unless

05:59something changes in terms of the funding, the way higher education is funded in Scotland,

06:04that's only going to get worse.

06:06But I mean, I guess it should be pointed out that stories like this about university

06:10leaders and their, you know, big pay increases kind of undermines that messaging that's

06:16coming from the sector in terms of restraint there.

06:21You can read Callum's exclusive story at Scotsman.com.

06:24And if you want to read all our education coverage, there's an education tab in our

06:29navigation bar that you can get all the very latest across the sector, including our

06:35ongoing coverage of the pressure on private schools as well through the VAT rise that

06:41will happen at the start of next year.

06:43Callum, thanks for joining us.

06:45Thank you, everyone else, for tuning in.

06:47Follow us on Facebook and Instagram and go out and buy a copy of The Scotsman for all

06:52the latest coverage tomorrow.

Category

Transcript

Recommended