Chamber and committees

:I have a supplementary question. The minister will remember that I have asked this in the chamber as well. It is about accessibility in more remote areas. Will you touch on that? You gave me an answer in the chamber, but it would be useful for the committee if you could say a little more about equality of accessibility for those in remote areas.

:Yes.

I have a few other questions. Those policies have impacted Compass’s pupil roll. Pupils who attend the school come from all over East Lothian and from different sectors of the community. It is a well-respected school.

To come back to your point about children with additional support needs, I had a couple of meetings with Compass, which also focuses on that, and we talked in particular about the increase in neurodiversity, which is an issue that is impacting schools across Scotland and the rest of the UK. Can you say a little bit more about ASN and neurodiversity? The Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee and the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee have looked at what the sector is doing regarding neurodiversity and at the impact on the education of those with neurodiversity. I know that the parents of children who attend Compass have seen a real benefit.

You mentioned the interaction with local authorities, and I know that Compass works very well with its local authority. We are probably still in the early stages of seeing the impact on schools of applying VAT to fees. You talked about some numbers dropping already. It might be like asking, “How long is a piece of string?”, but what do you think the impact will be over the next two or three years? If you were to come back here in three years, what do you think you would say that the impact had been?

I am the member for East Lothian and Lorraine Davidson mentioned Compass, which I have visited a few times. I will come to that in a second. Belhaven Hill school is also in my hometown of Dunbar, and I think that you mentioned that about 5 per cent of children travel into Edinburgh every day to attend schools.

I have a couple of things to ask. You mentioned the short implementation date. That was the biggest concern for Compass. As with any business, it needs to be able to plan around its cash flow into the future. The decision came on top of the employer national insurance contributions, which also put real pressure on the school. Can you say a wee bit more about the cumulative impact of the decision on VAT, as well as the impact of employer national insurance contributions on the sector as a whole? I have a few other questions, but if you could answer that first. Compass has real concerns about its long-term sustainability.

In my discussions with Compass, that issue was specifically mentioned as being a real concern.

When I last visited Compass, the school had just won a national award for intergenerational education. The Minister for Equalities has been to speak to the school as well. It was fantastic to see the link to the local community, particularly Haddington, and the work that the school has done with people from different parts of the community.

Can you say any more about the sector and its influence in that regard? I can see the importance of the work of Compass in Haddington specifically, but can you say more about the sector’s work more generally?.

We will all be aware of the paper from the Royal College of Psychiatrists that contains the 10-point plan. One of the key things that it talks about is the national guidance on reasonable adjustments. I was a councillor for 15 years, but I also have experience of dealing with parents in East Lothian at the moment, and I see that there are different aspects of it. The way in which the guidance is interpreted in schools is different from teacher to teacher.

I have been working with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, which provided external support with neurodiversity for parents in East Lothian. The council then said, “We don’t need external support,” and removed that support, which has caused significant issues for parents.

It is a multifaceted issue. What are your views on the RCP’s paper and, in particular, what it says about reasonable adjustments? What more can be done about the way in which local authorities are operating, whereby there is not even a uniform policy within schools, never mind across the local authority area?

Every week, I engage with parents on this issue. As I have discussed the issue with Dani Cosgrove, I will come to her first.

I can see that Bill Colley is ready to come in.

Perhaps Sarah Angus can come in on this, too. The key point is that this is almost what you might call failure demand. If the prevalence rate is 60 to 90 per cent as opposed to 5 to 10 per cent, it means that we are having to deal with the symptoms before we can actually get to the causes. I do not know about the work that goes on where you are, Sarah, but, to me, that seems to be a key focus. Of course, rehabilitation is incredibly important, too.

I will come to you first, Sarah, and then open it up to others.

Yes. Even within schools, different approaches are taken. One teacher will have a better understanding than others of what adjustments might be required, so the approach varies from class to class. There is no uniform school policy, never mind a local authority policy, on the issue.