Chamber and committees

It is particularly on that line to Inverness.

Joanne, did you want to add anything?

Good morning to the cabinet secretary and her officials.

I want to go back to clause 50 of the bill, about which I share the concerns that you have expressed on behalf of the Government. You said that there had been some engagement and correspondence prior to the bill’s publication, but I would be grateful if you could comment further on how meaningful that engagement with the UK Government was on clause 50, both prior to and since publication, and what the timescales were.

On what Robert Samson said about a later service between Waverley and Queen Street, I presume that that would not be prohibitive in terms of undertaking maintenance and so on, given that the London underground runs all night on a Friday and Saturday. If they can do it, we can do it, right?

Given that the Accounts Commission generally produces its analysis local authority by local authority, getting a holistic view across the country is quite a challenge for you and, I imagine, for COSLA.

Yes—in particular, the third sector.

Sure. I think that Nicola Dickie also wanted to answer.

I will move on to a wider question. How does a staged intervention work in practice? I am interested in any feedback that the witnesses want to give us on that. Does a child or young person have to have an unmet need at stage 1 before being considered for greater levels of support?

Should I interpret your answer as meaning that the journey to another stage is much more complicated and determined by a variety of factors?

I thank Antony Clark for teeing up perfectly my question for him, although I will be happy to hear from others thereafter. We are interested in the challenges for the Accounts Commission and Audit Scotland in understanding spend on pupils with additional support needs and the outcomes for them.