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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?.

I am the MSP for East Lothian. I was previously a councillor in East Lothian for 15 years.

The other point—I will open this up to see who else wants to come in—is that a culture change is required. Support is one thing, but do we need legislation? That is something that we need to look at. We can try to change culture and we can provide financial support, but if the culture to do that does not exist in an organisation, it becomes very difficult. Do we need legislation to make sure that all work areas are covered?

That is important. As we heard when we visited the Salvesen Mindroom Centre, retention rates are lower among people with neurodiversity. That should not be the case, but it is at the moment.

I will ask my question, and I have a comment as well. We have had various discussions, at council and other levels, about the key issue of how we triage. That is almost about who comes first. We have all talked about the increasing numbers, but how we triage is a very important question.

There is also a question about assessing demand. We have seen demand increase in the past number of years. Will there be an exponential increase in the next few years as well? It is important to consider what we need to do in the current situation, but we also need to think about what we do in three, four or five years, if the numbers increase.

I do not know who wants to answer that question. I might come in on the back of the answers, very briefly.

I know that we need to move on, but I do not know whether anyone saw the article on BBC News this morning about mainstreaming compared with specialism. That is a whole other debate, but the article was really interesting in setting out the different perspectives on specialism and mainstreaming. That is perhaps an issue for the committee to talk about, because the article was really relevant.

I had the pleasure of visiting the Salveson Mindroom Centre a couple of weeks ago. One of the key things that came through was that the employers that are involved tend to be larger employers. We may be talking about smaller businesses as well, but larger employers have the capacity to take the issue on and organise their organisations around support for those with neurodiversity. How do we ensure that there is a standard approach across different sizes of business? It is easier for a large business to take the issue on. How difficult is it for a small or medium-sized enterprise? That issue came through very clearly. It is important that we have a standard approach.

The other thing to mention in terms of support is how difficulties are picked up. Someone’s neurodiversity might not be apparent at the outset of their employment. There were a few examples of people who were subsequently diagnosed with neurodiversity, and that diagnosis changed their relationship with their employer.