Yes, but the decisions are taken by Moray Council when parents have made applications for particular reasons. The decision is, quite properly, for the education authorities, in discussion with the parents. The children are funded; their transportation costs are included. The example shows how we can bring the Steiner schools much more into the main stream.

On a day on which the so-called league tables of Scotland's schools have been published, I worry—as I do, sometimes—that we do not show enough of what happens in the Steiner school system apart from exams. They concentrate on the whole child, using the Piaget philosophy. No league table shows where barriers have been broken down by the efforts of those working in the Steiner schools or in special needs units in our mainstream schools.

I believe that, by not funding the Steiner schools, it could be argued that we are breaking the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 6 of which states that

"Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children" and that

"Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages."

Further, we might be in breach of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Has the minister checked the call for funding for our Steiner schools against that issue?