Hansard

Cathie Craigie will want to put the issue in the context of front-line funding. We will fund Donaldson’s school and the Royal blind school, as grant-aided special schools, with £4.5 million to support children and young people with sensory impairments. We have protected £305,000 of funding for CALL Scotland, which is also based at the University of Edinburgh and provides children with technological solutions to help them to overcome their barriers to learning. This year, we have provided CALL Scotland with an additional £27,000 to enhance its Scottish text-to-speech software. We have also provided £66,000 to update the state-of-the-art national equipment bank, which lends devices to young people to test before local authorities invest in their own equipment. I mention those things because I know that Cathie Craigie will want to put the issue in the context of the support that we are providing.

I would be very happy to convene a meeting between the University of Edinburgh, the Scottish sensory centre and our officials and ministers to discuss the way forward. But let us do that on the basis that, regardless of the £1,300 million cutback in funding, the Scottish Government is anxious—as the figures demonstrate—to support people who are engaged in the activity that we are discussing. On that basis, I will, with good will, convene such a meeting.