Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 03 March 2021
I declare that my wife is an ASN teacher at a primary school in Helensburgh, so I hear a lot about the fantastic work that they do in supporting children with all sorts of difficulties. An area of concern is higher and further education, in which there is definitely a gap because of the need for more support and its retention. Decisions about budgets that are being made in higher education might mean that those people are lost and not replaced, which is an important issue. In this day and age, we need to ensure that our young people are properly prepared for life, in which regard, I was interested in Daniel Johnson’s comments about prisons. Does the minister agree that we need to address those issues, particularly in higher education and prisons, as well as helping people to understand the learning support needs of the young people concerned and giving them a fair chance in life?