The Scottish Government has still not responded to a request from the Ministry of Defence for match-funding to establish two Defence Technical Excellence Colleges in Scotland, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard has told Parliament.
In a written answer given on 21 May in response to a question from Graeme Downie MP for Dunfermline and Dollar, Pollard confirmed that on 12 March 2026 the MoD announced its ambition to establish two colleges “aligned to support the defence clusters in the East and West of Scotland,” as part of the Scotland Defence Growth Deal. He said the MoD’s £10 million investment was “contingent on the Scottish Government providing match-funding.”
Pollard confirmed that on the same day, together with the Secretary of State for Scotland, he wrote to Scottish Government ministers seeking that commitment. “We are still awaiting their response,” he said.
The Defence Technical Excellence Colleges were highlighted at the Scottish Defence Procurement and Supply Chain Summit in Glasgow on 20 May as a central element of the Scotland Defence Growth Deal, with MoD Deputy Head of Place and Industry Skills Calum Taylor recently describing them as designed to build a pipeline of skilled workers for the defence sector in areas where defence activity is concentrated.
The colleges are intended to provide clear routes into employment and a long-term talent pipeline for both primes and SMEs operating in the Scottish defence supply chain.
We must not forget that the Scottish Government is almost entirely funded through the return of some tax revenue based on the Barnett Formula and provided to pay for the devolved public services. There is therefore very little room or capacity to provide for demands that go beyond those services, and any allocations have to be made at the expense of some other devolved need. Unlike Westminster which controls the means of gathering taxes and dictating how much Scotland gets to spend, Scotland cannot adjust its fiscal policy or allocate money to match what is centrally demanded. Westminster is the currency issuer and creator. As such Holyrood can only spend its allocation on things that provide for the devolved responsibilities, and is also required to achieve a balanced budget, unlike Westminster. And while there is scope for minor adjustments to some tax rates, they are currently used to fund the improvements to public services which is why on most measures things are not as bad as they are in England. And it should also be remembered that as defence is a reserved responsibility for Westminster, if they demand more defence related spending then they need to adjust their budgets accordingly and not expect those who cannot control such thigns to step in on their behalf. Everyone has been objecting to Trump demanding the rest of NATO joins in and complies with his weird world view, but then expects the devolved administrations to do the same following some Westminster departments’ wishes. Such is the definition of hypocrisy!
Nick an investment in education for Scots in a primarily Scotish industry would provide benefit to each and every Scot. It would not aid Wales, NI or England yet the UK is willing to provide 50% of the funding. The Scotish Government need to invest in their people – where they get the additional funding from is their problem. We would prefer that the work move to other parts of the UK and I’m sure that Liverpool (for exmple) would quite happily dig into it’s coffers to invest in it’s people. People are already asking the question – why are Scots so special – are they really the only ones capable of working in the defence industry.
You seem to conflate a number of different things. Not sure exactly what it is you are saying. Your first sentence is not valid, as the demanded investment is for defence related training. You would object if I (or we) demanded that you do something in your house or garden at your expense! When Westminster allocates the grant funding for specific purposes but then expects someone to reduce their planned budgetary expenditure from an existing budget that they have already decided is what should be spent on those current purposes on this additional project then something has to give. That is the point! Whether there is any actual benefit to the people of Scotland is debateable given the attitude of Westminster for future defence contracts and RN ship building! This debate is not that straighforward and the main point being that SG does not have the means to reallocate all the tax revenue that is generated here, anything that someone else expects or demands has to be met must come from an already (inadequate) preallocated resource.
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Nick the stuff which is being built in your garden is being paid for by HMG to Scotish workers. You apparantly want the UK Government to pay to train Scots to do the jobs for which the will be ultimately paid in full. The issue is that while we had specialists in Scotland who could do the job it made sense to give the work to the Scots. Now I can’t see the benefit. If were going to be training people from scratch and we are paying 100% training fees – why Scotland? Easier to do it elsewhere where they would appreciate the jobs.
A branch of my family was heavily involved in Scotish shipbuilding. We realised a long time ago that the Scots didn’t appreciate what they had and moved on.
What doesn’t make sense Nick is HMG wasting anymore money on Scotland whilst the Scotish Government continues to penny pinch.
What on earth is it you are trying to say? Have you actually thought about what you have written. What has my garden got to do with the thread? FYI HMG collects ALL our taxes. FYI HMG gives us back SOME of those taxes to pay for DEVOLVED responsibilities which are controlled by Holyrood. So IF HMG (and you) expect some of that returned revenue to be allocated at the behest of HMG which budget do you expect to lose out? If HMG want to money to be spent on its own projects then HMG should give us the tax revenues to do so! FYI Holyrood only has powers over devolved responsibilities, NOT those that are reserved to Westminster which includes taxation and defence. FYI Scotland pays taxes the same as everybody else.
There is plenty of room for SNP pet projects. Also none of this goes to why they still haven’t replied. The SNP have been given billions more since labour came into power.
We all known the real reason and that the SNP is allergic to any joint working what so ever. They can’t even be arsed to send Minister to key shipbuilding events. It’s quite petty really.
Your spamming is voisible to the world and has NOTHING to with the thread or website. Stop wasting oxygen.
The pettiness os the ill-informed rants. ALL political parties have their pet projects and manifesto commitments, or are the SNP not allowed them? You do NOT understand how Barnett or devolution works. If you actually look at the real figures, not the propaganda statements, the net level of return of our taxes has reduced significantly over the last several years of Treasury delivered budgets. That is the same for England as much as Wales and NI as well. What is wrong with doing any structural economic analyses and seeibng where things can be better structured? ALL political parties do that wherever they are from. It is ignoring the possibilities and opportunities that is the problem and reinforced by an imposed status quo. The SNP DO do joint working, that is exactly how the Holyrood electoral system is set up. So for the SNP to achieve anything they NEED to joint work with other parties otherwise legislation would not get passed! All Scottish legislation and administratiev actions absolutely require a majority and since the SNP do not have a majority of seats it is absolutely necessary for them to joint work with other parties to achieve things. The outcome is a compromise position acceptable for a majority vote. You do understand this? Does not Westminster frequently if not invariably push legislation through regardless of opposition purely because they have a majority of seats? Do you really expect Ministers to follow every external demand or event they have not organised for themselves? Do the Westminster Ministers not object to other people treading on their toes and inserting themselves into such events?
The SNP do not want defence and skilled people. They only want the EU and independence which is a contradiction.
This comment is, to be honest, the only nothing that needs to be said. Spot on.
And on what informed basis is that statement made? You know NOTHING about the EU or independence. You have NOT read any relevant papers. You appear to relish the loss of living standards, business disruption, loss of NHS, care and farming staff. Why not actually think about things? You appera to listen only to what fits your prejudices, just like Trump. A more considered and intelligent response would have some factual content instead of an uninformed rant. You view may well have some merit, but it lacks any balance or counterthought. What you have also missed in your rant is that actually if Scotland were independent then there would be a debate and vote on the EU. You also appear to forget that Scotland along with Northern Ireland did not vote to leave the EU so the position statement is no more than a reiteration of that wish. Scotland lost out from Brexit which underpins that perspective. In terms of defence the SNP are committed to a workable defence, but that does not include maintaining certain types of weapons or platforms especially aircraft carriers, which would be of little use in a European engagement. Before ranting it makes a lot of sene to actually read up and find out the facts of what you are ranting about rathert than go off on an ill-informed basis. Decisions based on prejudice and ill or mis-information are invariably flawed.
Have the regions in England been asked to match fund this investment ie Mayor Andy Burnham in nE England for example?
Even if agree to should the match funding be on a 8-92% basis and not a 50-50 as that’s how other funding work in the devolved settlement?