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That is interesting. On Monday evening, we met a mother who had given up her job in order to be able to do exactly what you have described—what you are saying sits with the evidence that we have received.

I will turn to Lee-Anne McAulay to comment on how effective health-focused transition plans are, and I will then go to Andy Miller and Rebecca Scarlett.

That was the sense that I had when listening to the parents whom we talked to, who were articulate and campaigning. They were committed and had the wherewithal, as it were, in terms of their ability to articulate and advocate. The question of what would happen to the many children who do not have the benefit of that support occurred to me.

If you can, I would like you to expand on the lack of learning culture that you have witnessed and which you just spoke about. Can you describe in more detail what you mean?

I thank the witnesses for the evidence that they have given so far and particularly for the succinct way in which they are identifying the issues that we face in relation to transition.

Something that has impressed me in the sessions that we have had so far is the relevance of the seven principles that were identified by the Scottish Transitions Forum, which I think are hugely relevant. I have a very simple question: just how successful is the work of the transitions forum in improving the transition process? I think that I already know the answer, but I would like you all to have the opportunity to put on record your response, starting with Dr Joshi.

My final question is about the effectiveness of careers information, guidance and advice in identifying opportunities for disabled children and young people. How can practitioners best achieve the balance between meeting the practical needs of the young people concerned and helping them to achieve their aspirations for the future?

All the witnesses have touched on that, but would Lee-Anne McAulay like to say a bit more about the effectiveness of careers information, advice and guidance and how practitioners best achieve that balance?

Cabinet secretary, what is your vision for the role that Scotland’s colleges play in our education landscape and in the wider plan to transform and modernise our economy?

Okay—good. It is therefore greatly concerning—to you as it is to me and others, I am sure—that the Glasgow Kelvin College principal, Derek Smeall, said that the impact of the budget on funding

“looks at this early stage to be likely to mean a reduction in my workforce of 25 per cent by the end of year 5, which is 2027.”—[Official Report, Education, Children and Young People Committee, 21 September 2022; c 14.]

He is looking at progressive reductions in his workforce until 2027.

This morning—perhaps he knew that you were appearing before the committee; I do not know—Jon Vincent, principal of Glasgow Clyde College, sent an email announcing that the college has to find £2 million of savings in the next financial year, that there is a need for redundancies and that it is opening a voluntary redundancy scheme.

That is not the backdrop that Scotland’s colleges need if they are going to fulfil the indispensable role that we agree they will play in our economic transformation. Do you accept what those college principals say, and will that cut in their staffing and teaching capacity undermine the quality of the education that they can deliver?

My question has to do with teachers and morale within the profession regarding an area that I have raised with you before: violence and threat in the classroom. We both agree that it is utterly unacceptable that teachers are being subjected to maltreatment on the scale that we are seeing, with 20,000 incidents reported in the past year. In a letter to me, you described the work of the Scottish advisory group on relationships and behaviour in schools. Will you expand a little on exactly what SAGRABIS is, practically, going to do to support our teachers?

Do you agree that, when it comes to reported incidents of violence and threat in the classroom, we are seeing only the tip of the iceberg, because there is no standard for reporting such incidents? Some local authorities are very hot on reporting, whereas Glasgow, for example, reported only 400 incidents. I say “only”—though it is ridiculous to say “only 400”—because, given the scale of Glasgow City Council’s school population, that figure seems unrealistic. Do you agree that it would be good to have a standard for reporting, and perhaps even a mandated requirement for reporting incidents of violence and threat in the classroom?

It is a very clever—

It is a clever response, but it is not based on any reality, because you are the cabinet secretary and you have to deliver a programme for government that is based on your political priorities. It is clear that the colleges sector does not number among those political priorities. That is what the sector reflects in the evidence that it has brought to the committee.

Let us talk about flexibilities for a moment. The college sector is asking for some flexibilities that might allow colleges to use the resources that they have to greater effect and perhaps for some degree of financial relief. Are you looking at flexibilities for the college sector?