Seòmar agus comataidhean

Okay. You can come back to us on that.

It is about positive outcomes, so is going on to an apprenticeship and college, for example, the kind of outcome that we are talking about?

Is it basically the case that, for every £1 of resource that goes to an organisation such as yours, you bring in more than £1? You have said that you have other resources that you call on and that you deliver additionality—you bring something different that would not be there if you were not there.

A point that you made in your written submission struck me emotionally as well as in other respects. It is in the part in which you mentioned pupils engaging, sustaining friendships, managing transitions, arriving on time, and feeling ready to learn. You said:

“One Headteacher told us: ‘if someone said to me “but he’s still not meeting his benchmarks”, I’d say “but he’s in class.”’”

That is a measurable thing that is perhaps not going to hit any headlines, but it will make a tangible difference in the longer term.

How do you measure the success of such clubs? Can you share any measurements of success with us?

That was a fantastic anecdote, and I cannot think of a better way of concluding this evidence session.

I thank Jim Wallace, Maureen McAteer, Sara Spencer and Louise Goodlad for their evidence to the committee’s inquiry into the Scottish attainment challenge. With that, I conclude this morning’s meeting. I ask members to reconvene in private on Microsoft Teams to consider the other items on our agenda.

Let me consider what you have said. Bob Doris has indicated that he wants to say something. It is only fair that I allow him the same privilege that I have allowed you.

We move on to the main item, and we are delighted to welcome to Parliament those witnesses who are attending the meeting in our committee room.

We will be taking evidence as part of our Scottish attainment challenge inquiry. Our focus this week is on the work of the third sector organisations that provide services that are funded through the attainment challenge. I welcome our witnesses. Jim Wallace, the director of children and families at the Aberlour Child Care Trust, is joining us remotely. Maureen McAteer, the assistant director of Barnardo’s Scotland, is with us in the committee room. Sara—is that pronounced Sah-ra or Say-ra? I should have asked earlier.

Will Louise Goodlad please expand on the ways in which the Prince’s Trust interacts with local authorities and talk us through what its relationship with local authorities is like? Is the relationship with schools or with local authorities? If it is with local authorities, is it with a group of schools within those authority areas or is it with individual schools that positively engage with the trust?

Thank you. Ross Greer also wants to comment.