I thank the minister for her rather disappointing response. Is the minister aware that Ballet West, based at Taynuilt, attracts more than 100 applications a year, from all over the United Kingdom and abroad, for its three-year diploma in dancing and teaching studies, and that it injects significant resources into the local community? Is she also aware that Ballet West has outperformed all other ballet companies in competition, including the Royal Ballet, yet cannot gain access to tuition fee grants, as can its more expensive, less talented competitors from south of the border?

Does the minister agree that failure to ensure equality for Scottish centres of excellence in the arts not only compromises the viability of innovative, world-class companies such as Ballet West—which may have to move outwith Scotland to survive—but makes a mockery of the much-hyped national cultural strategy that was launched only a few short weeks ago?