To ask the Scottish Government what support there is for the parents or guardians of children and young people with additional support needs who require a specific school placement. (S6O-04471)

All children and young people should learn in an environment that best suits their needs. Our education authorities are responsible for setting school admission policies, which will include details of how to make placing requests, the procedures for dealing with parental placing requests and the associated appeals processes.

Education authorities also have a duty to comply with placing requests from parents when their child has additional support needs, unless specific exemptions apply. The Government funds the Enquire service to provide advice to parents on the placing request system and how those decisions can be appealed.

I welcome the recent investment from the Scottish Government for the “Let’s talk ASN” service, which had been suspended towards the end of last year. What assurance can the cabinet secretary give that the service, which is valued by many of my constituents as well as by many others across the country, will remain available, especially when more parents and carers increasingly require support for children in ASN settings?

The “Let’s talk ASN” service provides a vital advocacy and legal representation service to families when there is a dispute about additional support for learning. Following demand-led pressures in autumn last year, the service reopened on 3 January, and any cases that could not be addressed during the period in which the service was temporarily suspended have been offered free legal advice.

To ensure that the service will continue to meet demand, we have increased the funding that will be available to it through a new contract, which will begin in April. We will also continue to work closely with the service contractor, Govan Law Centre, to monitor demand and ensure that it is met.

We are not aware of any referrals being turned away since the service reopened, but if the member would like to share any details or has any further information on that, I would be more than happy to consider the matter.