Chamber and committees

I have a supplementary on data and I have a question about finance. Do you want me to ask that one now as well, convener?

No bother at all. That is fine.

Our papers for the meeting say that 28 per cent of pupils in primary school and 40 per cent of pupils in high school have ASN. Can the witnesses explain why there seems to be a greater prevalence in high school? Is it due to late diagnosis?

I do not think that I caught all of the figures that Laura Meikle gave.

The Morgan report talks about expenditure on additional support for learning, and it says that it is

“one of the areas of most unpredictable local authority spend”.

It goes on to say that

“it tends to be overlooked at corporate level in local authorities due to the focus on the other very real challenges of providing adult and older people services.”

Why is ASN being overlooked in local government expenditure in that way?

If they are not co-ordinated support plans, what are they, and what is the statutory basis for them?

Do you accept that this year’s £46 million cut in funding—of which the cut to the college sector is £26 million—could have impacted on that? For example, some colleges have said that they might have been able to use that funding for a voluntary severance scheme as opposed to having to move to compulsory redundancies.

I have some evidence from Glasgow specifically, which I might follow up with you separately. There are significant reductions at City of Glasgow College in the additional support needs area, so it would be helpful to follow that up.

What support can you offer staff who are facing redundancies?

I appreciate that, but I do not think that we can continually get into this back-and-forth conversation in which you expect Opposition members to do the budget for the Government—

Do you think that it is acceptable to pit educators against educators in that circumstance?

Okay. I have one final question, and it is about—