Chamber and committees

How does that compare with the data that we are hearing about from others today? It has been mentioned that 17 per cent of people are experiencing physical assault and 62 per cent are experiencing—

Are we recording that just now?

I thank everyone for joining us this morning and for sharing the incredibly useful information that you sent us in advance.

I want to pick up on some of the discussion that we have had so far, because it feeds into the issue of identifying the scale of the problem. I am a bit concerned that, even this morning, we might be falling into the trap of suggesting that there is not a problem when there actually is one. We heard from Mike Corbett, Anne Keenan and others about the increases that they are seeing in the school environment. It is fair to say that, although we should not look at what certain newspapers might print on their front pages, the low level of discipline that has been raised with us is wearing for staff. It is causing the wellbeing issues that Mike Corbett and Anne Keenan highlighted.

We are creating a bit of a pressure cooker environment in classrooms. I agree with Dr Mowat’s analysis of distress behaviours and with Nick Smiley on the point that there is distress here for young people. We need to get to the bottom of the reasons for that in order to support them to develop better through their education.

First, why do we have that inconsistent approach to reporting? Secondly, why do some people say that they are scared to escalate issues and that they are not taken seriously when they do so? They are told that there is a fear of bringing the authority into disrepute. That culture has to be addressed if we are to get to the bottom of this. My questions are for Anne Keenan, Mike Corbett and Carrie Lindsay.

That gets to the heart of the problem—

Are you confident that that number will not increase as a result of the regulations?

I, too, am satisfied. I appreciate the minister’s willingness to send information to the committee when he has it. As long as we have a mechanism to make sure that that is forthcoming, I am content.

Thank you. I want to put on the record that I think that the change is really beneficial, and I can see that it would mean that people could naturally follow on their course of education, but I think that the numbers are quite big.

Minister, will there be any additional funding associated with some of those changes for universities?

Is that something that you would look at doing in the future, if the numbers increased? By what amount would the numbers need to increase before you would start to give universities more money?

What would you consider to be a substantial increase?

Does that include the changes for postgraduate study?