 Fawr, maen nhw'n gweld y bwrdd, pofydig i Findodden Aeshwm, gan gweithio'r ddaf IIsgwm yn cael mwyllgor gan ddigon iawn. Gweithgai'r ddaf yn cyfrifwyr i'ch maen nhw i'w ddaf i'ch ddaf i'w ddaf i'w ddaf yn gyfrifwyr, ond gennyn nhw i'w ddaf amniwr aethau o ddistaisiwnol, a ddaf yn gwyasındaig i'w ddaf i'w ddaf i'w ddaf, ydynt i, isgwyr o blom, maen nhw'n rai ddechrau a'r fawr yn dweud i ddechrau ar gyfer eich ysgrifennu i ddwygar am y gallu bwysig iawn. Rwy'n edrych am yr eich lef, cydwyddiant, mae'n gweithredu i ddweud i ddweud i ddweud. Mae'n dweud i gyfraith cywyr intOD, ond ei gwybod i'n fath o'r bwysig. Rwy'n eitem ni'n dechrau ar y Cymru, felly mae'n gweithredu i ddefnyddio'r cyfrwyng iawn i gael i gweithio'r amser olaf, a'i ddim llawer o'r gweithfawr i ddim yn cyfrifoeddach i'r ddeuemeth fel y gallwn hwnnw i'i gennych, ac rwy'n falch i'r ddechu hwnnw nes i ddim yn teimlo ei ddechu a'i ddim yn bwysig i'r ddechu hwnnw i'r ddechu ddechu i ddechu i'r washer a'r ddigon i ddim yn ei ddigon i ddechu i'r ddechu hwnnw i'r ddigon i'r ddechu i ddechu eich hunain. I believe that deaf children and young people are as capable of achieving and accomplishing as much in life as anyone else, given early diagnosis and a healthy, supportive environment. Working in areas such as my own constituency of Cunningham North to educate families on how to support a child with deafness, NDCS hosts a variety of events that promote the healthy, social and intellectual development of deaf children, while also providing access to support groups and hotlines so that all families with one or more deaf children may have help available when and however they require. Besides provision of events and resources within communities, the charity also runs a variety of campaigns that focus on raising awareness of the problems that are faced by the young deaf community, targeted specifically for policy makers, to ensure that the educational standards and employment opportunities are and remain a priority for this Government. Today, I want to highlight the educational attainment gap for young deaf learners in Scotland and the negative impact that it has on their future achievement. Early today, Marama Cormack, from Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People, contacted me and pointed out that article 29A of the UNCRC notes that the education of the child shall be directed to the development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential. That article has implications for ensuring that children who use BSL as their main and often sole language can receive access to quality education from someone who is proficient in this language. Many children are failing to have the right, this right met, as local authorities are unable to provide a curriculum that is accessible to them. As the NDCS closed the gap report published earlier this year makes clear, there is a distinct and unfair marginalisation of deaf students within the Scottish education system. With 80 per cent of deaf students currently attending mainstream schools, research from the deaf achievement Scotland project found that pupils with any degree of deafness are consistently scoring lower and leaving school with fewer to no qualifications in comparison to non-deaf pupils. Surveys of the 2012-13 academic year show that nearly 10 per cent of students with hearing impairment left school with no qualifications compared to less than 1 per cent who do not have additional service needs. The research also found that children who are not only mildly deaf but also consistently score well below the average. Due to those students often possessing better speech skills, serious line problems can be easily overlooked. Of course, there is no reason why children with any degree of deafness should achieve any less than their hearing counterparts. That is not a learning disability. It does not inherently cause any mental health issue or involve any cognitive impairment. Failure to meet their educational needs lies both within our education system, social environment and, indeed, interaction with home life. Let's first look at the school environment. Studies found that up to a third of teachers of the deaf are under-qualified or lack the knowledge and skillset needed to adequately educate hearing impaired children. Given that, over the past three years, Scotland has seen a 16 per cent decrease in the number of teachers for the deaf and it has anticipated that over half of the remaining specialist teachers will retire within 15 years. The basic educational support system for deaf children is lacking in both skillset and number, and whilst the number of deaf young people continues to grow steadily within Scotland, that is especially concerning. When examining the socialisation aspect of school, we see further problems. Deaf children are especially vulnerable to isolation, bullying and low self-esteem and are more than twice as likely to be abused as other children. Although deafness does not innately predispose an individual to having mental health problems, deaf children are 60 per cent more likely to experience mental health issues compared to non-deaf children. Addressing the social needs of young deaf children is just as vital to their overall mental health and success as meeting their academic needs. Regarding the home environment, with 90 per cent of deaf children born to hearing families, the need for active and mutual communication between school and home is especially important to ensure that the child's requirements are met. Parents are the primary advocate for their child, and in the case of a hearing impaired child, this role becomes pivotal to the child's intellectual development. Unfortunately, as the deaf achievement Scotland project found, communication between teachers and parents of deaf children is poor or non-existent. Teachers are often unsure of how to communicate learning issues to parents, specifically in cases dealing with families from deprived communities. In nearly half of cases, research has found that parents consistently had low expectations for their child's development, which negatively impacted on the child's academic performance. The Scottish Government is taking decisive steps to provide support on the early development of deaf children, with acts such as getting it right for every child approach, which helps to focus on what makes a positive difference for children and young people and how we can act to deliver those improvements, as well as a see here strategy, which provides a framework for meeting the needs of people in Scotland with a sensory impairment. While such initiatives provide an excellent grounding, there is a definite need for policies that outline more specific standards and monitoring systems to ensure that the young deaf community has access to the same educational opportunities as other children. Having said that, I would like to make three final points regarding reducing the educational attainment gap. The first is a need to address the overall lack of information that the Government has on the issue. Good policy requires accurate and relevant data, but even in determining the number of people affected by deafness in Scotland, the numbers vary. A common standard for assessing and counting the number of children with deafness is required. The best way to move forward on improving the educational outcomes of deaf children is to gain a clear understanding of the struggles that those individuals face and then from that create specific and effective policy. Secondly, I hope that the Parliament will support the passage of the British Sign Language Scotland Bill and note that many families with deaf children struggle to gain access to resources that would help them to best teach and communicate with their child. I trust that, with the passage of this bill, those resources might be made more easily and widely available. Lastly, I would like to point out that this attainment gap does not just end when deaf children leave school. It carries almost directly over into employment. According to the Deaf Achievement Scotland project, the employment rate for young deaf people is consistently and significantly less than young non-deaf people without disabilities. Educational deficiencies early on have lasting damaging effects on the success of that individual. I ask the Scottish Government to do all that is in its power to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute to their own and Scotland's economic future prosperity, not least young deaf people. Many thanks. I now call on Jane Baxter to be followed by Mary Scanlon. Four minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to congratulate Kenneth Gibson for securing this member's debate. From fellow education committee members, our visit on Tuesday to Falkirk High School will be fresh in our minds. Although primarily to explore issues in relation to Mark Griffin's proposed British Sign Language Bill, the visit also provided us with the opportunity to consider many other issues, including the challenges facing deaf learners and their families who find themselves within a mainstream school setting. I would like to thank those pupils and staff who took the time to meet with us. Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to meet with the National Deaf Children's Society and one of their young activists as they sought to highlight the findings of the research into the post-16 outcomes achieved by young people. That young person was engaging and articulate and gave me ample insight into what she wanted to see changed for her and her peers. Unfortunately, the experience of many deaf young people do not match their aspirations as they encounter barriers from employers or accessing higher education. I am grateful that the Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training was able to respond to my raising such issues during yesterday's question time. I look forward to seeing how the Scottish Government take on board those challenges in responding to recommendations of the Wood Commission. Most recently, the education on the needs of deaf learners has been brought home to me through my correspondence with a meeting with the constituent in Fife, who raised the issue of teacher qualifications to properly support deaf children who are in mainstream schooling. Across the Fife local authority area, over 300 deaf children are registered with the sensory support service. The majority of them are in mainstream placements across 75 primary schools, 19 secondary schools and four special schools. In the week that the latest statistics on full-time equivalent teacher numbers were published, it is interesting to note that those 311 learners are supported by just 13.6 teachers of the deaf, one educational audiologist and just 6.5 pupil support assistants. How local authorities and the Scottish Government respond to such challenges within the current financial climate will be interesting to see and one that I hope the Education Committee continues to give its full attention to. Back to my constituent, who raised an interesting proposition about the need to change the law around the minimum level of qualifications and British Sign Language skills of those who teach deaf pupils. They are keen to see that a teacher of the deaf or pupil support assistant must have a minimum of level 3 BSL qualification, with a view to advancing to level 6 over a period of time. It seems a very interesting proposition that the current minimum BSL language requirements of level 2 may not be sufficiently advanced to effectively deliver the curriculum and support learners undertaking national fires or hires. That is certainly the view of my constituent, and I would be extremely interested to hear from the minister on that point. If true, then surely this point is part of the problem that you are facing. We cannot assist pupils in increasing their attainment levels if the teaching or support staff are not in place or not properly equipped to enable them to achieve their full potential. Others in the chamber today have highlighted the stark warnings about the 6% decrease in teachers of the deaf over the past three years, but we should also reiterate again the potential time bomb that is looming in education services across the country. It is estimated that over half of all teachers of the deaf are due to retire within five 15 years. That is a recruitment nightmare just waiting to happen, let alone the impact it will have on the support available to deaf children and young people in education across Scotland. I thank the member once again for securing this debate and look forward to hearing from the minister. I thank Kenneth Gibson for bringing this motion to the chamber and also to commend him on his speech. I was very pleased that he mentioned mental health regarding deaf children, as the issue was raised at the cross-party group for mental health last week. As the day's members business clearly demonstrates, the attainment gap is not just a socioeconomic issue but also a serious hurdle for deaf Scottish children. There are nearly 4,000 deaf children in Scotland that face significant barriers to obtaining school qualifications and accessing higher or further education opportunities for employment. However, as I learned on our visit to Falkirk this week, there seems to be various opinions on a proper definition for a child or a person who is deaf. The recent closed-the-gap report by Edinburgh University on behalf of the National Deaf Children's Society brought forward quite a few aspects in this regard. Researchers found support to be particularly lacking within the college sector, which is concerning given that this is the chosen post-16 destination for 38 per cent of deaf school leavers in Scotland. The research revealed a marked difference in support available for deaf students between college and universities and is still part of the quote. That raises concerns about the disparities in funding across sectors and particularly how colleges are resourced to address student needs. Given the recent cuts in further education, it is deeply worrying that this also has a significant impact on people with learning impairments. It also brings to light another aspect of the report that highlighted the lack of support for transitional planning that deaf children receive in schools, despite, as Kenny Gibson mentioned, the statutory requirements in additional support for learning act code of practice. As Kenny Gibson and Jane Baxter said, on top of that, the number of teachers of deaf post is reduced by 15 per cent in the past two years alone, with another 50 per cent due to retire in 15 years. We also heard when we were in Falkirk—it was our first evidence session—of the serious difficulties and barriers faced by teachers who want to learn BSL as part of their CPD. One of the witnesses was talking about paying £2,800 per her daughter to learn BSL when we have free tuition. I found that one difficult to understand, but we are only at stage one here. I think that the debate is very timely, given that education not only visited Falkirk high school this week. We also heard of the excellent support there for school pupils and the whole family. Kenny Gibson brought that forward today. To move forward on issues, we need champions not only in this Parliament but locally. I do not think that any of us could have been left with a more positive impression of a local champion than Alan Saunders, who not only came along to give us evidence. He helps the parents of children, he helps police, the NHS and so many others. I commend Mark Griffin on his bill, and I have no doubt that it will raise awareness and highlight issues that have been raised today. I appreciate that we are at the early stage of consultation, but I am already worrying if it will go far enough to address the issues that were raised by Kenny Gibson, Jane Baxter and others to ensure that deaf children across Scotland are not educationally disadvantaged. I welcome the bill. It is a step forward, but I think that we should all be saying, does it go far enough? I now call on Hanzala Mallick to be followed by Dennis Roberts. Thank you very much and good afternoon, Presiding Officer. I am happy to join today's debate in education of disadvantaged and deaf children in Scotland. I also thank Kenny Gibson for securing the debate this afternoon. In primary schools, children are recognised for their talents, mental and physical condition that may need to be supported in order that they ensure development at the same pace as other youngsters in the class. Students that are hearing impaired need access to additional support in the classroom, but in many cases, this help is not provided by the teachers because up to 30% of teachers are not trained to do so. According to research conducted by the National Deaf Children's Association, 90% of deaf children are born to hearing able parents who have minimum experience in communication, communicating with persons that are hearing impaired and struggle how to provide appropriate support to their children with that physical condition. If a child struggles to communicate, a child may not develop language or communication skills, hence the Scottish Government should find additional ways of supporting youngsters falling behind due to the lack of resources in schools and in their communities. This shortfall shortage in research in Scottish schools for children with hearing impairment can create an educational attainment gap for those children, regarding the fact that deafness is not hearing disability, but may fall behind not achieving to their full potential. There are some voluntary organisations like the National Deaf Children's Society that are trying to fill the gap the government misses, such as the organisation I have already mentioned and Deaf Action and some specialist projects like the Asian Deaf Club, the ISHARA, which focus on ethnic minority communities. Presiding officer, I wish to take this opportunity to thank all these organisations for the wonderful work they do. It is always true that not all schools and not all classrooms are able to fulfil the full requirements that our children need and these organisations play a very important and essential role. All these organisations struggle to provide support to those who are hearing impaired and families that have close members and are trying their very best to support hearing impaired children and relatives and despite trying it is essential that not only does the government support them to stay afloat, but also continues to support them financially and morally so that they can continue to carry out the work that they do. Now I know that it's very easy to say that you know the schools have got to reach the targets and that the fact that the 30% of our teachers are not able to support these youngsters, it takes time to train people. It takes time to not only train people, to train and support others, but also in the communities as well and I think sometimes we overlook the fact that how community organisations support members of the families to try and overcome these difficulties. It's absolutely essential and critical that people who have these disabilities are in fact supported to the degree that they then do not suffer when it goes to university or in employment in particular. I think that people need to feel that they are part of the community and they do not feel undermined in any way. Therefore, I will suggest that the Government continues to support community organisations in particular to transport the community in large, thank you very much. I now call on Dennis Robertson to be followed by Liam McArthur, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I thank Kenneth Gibson for bringing in this debate to the chamber and can I also welcome our guests to the gallery and suggest to them that this debate is about them? This debate is about their aspirations and it's about how we as politicians can hopefully meet their needs. Presiding Officer, Kenneth Gibson said that being deaf doesn't mean that you have a learning disability and he's absolutely right. We have to get away from this perception that deaf children are different, they are not. However, we need to try and ensure that if we are to aspire to the girfech getting it right for every child and the curriculum for excellence, then we have to treat each child as an individual. That means, Presiding Officer, that even from preschool we need to be able to identify their specific needs. Too often, we look at what's going on at school and the support in the school for children who are deaf or who are hard of hearing. However, we need to extend that because we need to take a look at what is happening at home. For instance, do their parents have the appropriate language skills such as BSL or do their peers, their siblings have those skills too? It's all very well saying that within the school itself that we need teachers and I agree with those who have spoken before me, Presiding Officer, that we need appropriately qualified teachers in the language skills. However, we need to ensure, as I said, that that support is actually taken home as well. That is why it is the responsibility of not just school, the parents, but perhaps of health visitors and others actually working in the community. Because if we work together on a co-ordinated approach, we can do much better for those children who are deaf. Because children who are deaf don't have to be disadvantaged, they don't have to reach an attainment that is less than other children if we get it right from the start. When we move on, Presiding Officer, through the school pathways and yesterday I had the privilege of speaking to children from Fingen primary school here in Parliament and when I said I was coming to this debate, one of the young children said that her sister attends a Boeing academy in my own constituency. Now, I didn't go into the details, but what is apparent, Presiding Officer, is that the majority of children who are deaf, or have indeed any century loss, are in mainstream schools. That is right. Maybe not for every child, but it is right for most, because they are part of that community. Ensuring that the children within that school have the language skills to interact with children who are deaf is also very important. That is why some children are isolated and it was referred that some children are perhaps bullied within their schools. That is because of lack of knowledge and awareness. It is important when we are moving forward that we ensure that our children from a very young age do not treat children who are deaf as different, but treat children who are deaf as having a different language, an alternative language, that they must learn or should learn or can learn. It is also important for us to remember that people coming to this country, perhaps from Eastern Europe, who are deaf, that British Sign Language may not be their first language either. We have a lot to learn, Presiding Officer, but I believe that the Scottish Government is committed to getting it right for every child. I believe that the curriculum for excellence will ensure that every child is moving forward through that pathway of education and then that transition from school to college to university and work. All too often, Presiding Officer, we are still seeing that deaf children are being left behind and that deaf adults are not getting a job. Presiding Officer, this needs to change and with a debate like this and raising the awareness and with champions such as Kenneth Gibson, we will move forward in that direction. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and I join with others in congratulating and thanking Kenneth Gibson on bringing this debate. A debate, as James Baxter and Mary Scanlon indicated, following on a visit that the Education Committee made to Falkirk High School earlier in the week. Now that visit was in the context of the BSL Bill and the work that we are doing in relation to that, but also in the context of work that we are planning to do around attainment for deaf children and young people. It was exceptionally helpful in that regard. There are poorer educational outcomes and access to education, as Kenneth Gibson indicated, rolling on into employment opportunities. It is absolutely right for us to be clear at the outset that there is no reason why the outcomes for deaf children and young people should be any different or why their aspirations should be any less. It is a point that was reiterated to me in a recent meeting with the National Deaf Children's Society and I pay personal tribute to their efforts on behalf of deaf children and their families. It was a meeting where I was joined by Jonathan Moyer and I think I see him up in the gallery this afternoon and delighted he is joining us for this debate. He was able to give a personal perspective on the challenges that Kenneth Gibson and others have outlined, both at school and then subsequently in finding employment. It was reinforced by the pupils and indeed the staff that we met at Falkirk High earlier this week. I think that Falkirk, in collaboration with Stirling, is actually doing comparatively well, but even there you are seeing gaps that exist. The NDCS has confirmed that there are particular problems, however, in meeting the needs of deaf children and young people in rural areas. I do not think that it is necessarily that difficult to understand. I am sure that the Minister will appreciate that more than most. Although I understand that Highland Council may be bucking the trend and I do not know the reasons for that and whether there are lessons that can be learned. A point that was illustrated in some of the briefing for this debate was that it does not really matter the level of deafness. Any level of deafness can affect attainment. Again, from the experience at Falkirk High, we saw that very much in evidence, that there was no difference in communication skills between some of the pupils and yet their level of communication and attainment varied quite enormously. I think that it also points to the importance of the home environment and providing suitable support there. However, the point has also been made that mild hearing loss, often when it is not detected, can then result in disruptive behaviour and a reduction in attainment. It is not simply those who are profoundly deaf who need that support. Rachel Neal, a lecturer and researcher in deaf education at Edinburgh University, has talked about the need to improve school acoustics. Standards exist, as I understand it, in England but not yet in Scotland. Bad acoustics are clearly going to have an effect on all the children in a classroom, but it might be something that the minister could look to pursue. The importance of early identification is a point that is reiterated by Jonathan Moyer, by Falkirk High School pupils, by the NDCS and by Rachel Neal, who suggested that attainment gaps go back to the preschool differences in language skills. The Scottish Sensory Centre developed early years standards that aim to respond to the new-born hearing screening, which I think is pretty comprehensive, but then puts in place programmes of language development, whether it is speech or sign or a combination of both. Where that is used, the results appear to be good, but it is clearly not being implemented across the country. Education Scotland is not inspecting early years services for deaf children, but Falkirk High School was very complimentary about their engagement with Education Scotland. It is simply that it is not systematic enough as an approach. That, along with the point in relation to the qualification of teachers, which I think that James Baxter rightly focused on, is something that we need to be getting to grips with. In conclusion, I again thank Kenneth Gibson for bringing this important debate to the chamber. I applaud the work of the National Deaf Children's Society. And while acknowledging that the Scottish Government has made significant strides in a number of areas, I echo the comments of Dennis Robertson that there is clearly much more work that we still need to do. I thank the member, Kenneth Gibson, for bringing the debate to the chamber today and for his continuing support of the issue. I was transfixed last Saturday, tea time, as a programme came on the television. Quite by chance, I ended up watching it. It was Channel 4's unreported world. It was reporting from Nigeria about the lack of education for deaf children. It followed three or four children and their lives. Those children were born deaf and were not able to communicate with anyone at all, even their own parents, because they had never been taught how to sign. That programme struck me—I think that those things come across us quite and serendipitously—as a stark reminder of the importance of BSL and communication for the deaf and the importance of the world that it opens up. Thankfully, here in Scotland, we are lightyears ahead of that. As convener of the cross-party group on deafness, I very much enjoy the work that I do with the deaf community and in Scotland, and especially with organisations representing children. I commend Kenneth Gibson for the motion today and its acknowledgement of the national deaf children's society's most recent finding and its campaign on closing the gap for deaf children in Scotland. That was a campaign that I helped to launch earlier this year. We have heard today in the debate that the gap in educational attainment continues to challenge the lives of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in Scotland. The closure gap report found that almost 10 per cent of deaf children leave school with no qualifications and that only a quarter enter higher education. A quarter of school leavers move into employment, but only one-sixth of deaf young people do the same. That further affects their employment opportunities later in life. A recent study that has been referred to by Liam McArthur from the University of Edinburgh has found that the employment rate for deaf young people was only 31 per cent, which is incredibly lower than the national average of 53 per cent. That attainment gap does not come from a lack of ability or inherent learning difficulties. It is a result of the ability or otherwise of local education provision to deliver the right quality, quantity and scope of support to allow a deaf child to flourish. The NDCS has also recently found that this gap in educational attainment comes from a lack of trained teachers, a problem that is only going to get worse, as half of all teachers of the deaf that are correctly trained are due to retire within the next 15 years. That highlights a problem in regulation and monitoring to ensure that there are adequately trained teachers of all ages throughout our system to support our deaf and hard of hearing children. I wonder if the minister might address that in his closing remarks. The attainment gap during school years has an even bigger impact when we look to college education. The NDCS found that deaf children flourish in further education, but within increasing college cuts and less places, the avenue is starting to narrow and to narrow quickly. Over the time that I have been convener on the cross-party group on deafness, I have seen some change. In particular, the British Sign Language Bill is now at stage 1 and is brought to the Parliament by the hard work of my colleague Mark Griffin. It is a huge step in securing the BSL as a recognised language in our society. I am heartened to hear members of the education committee in this debate today saying that they are scrutinising that very closely, because there is still much to be done, and that attainment gap continues to widen, unfortunately. It is imperative that, as policy makers, we continue to tackle the barriers that face deaf and hard of hearing children in accessing the help and the support that they need. I am happy to support today's motion. I thank the member for bringing it and hope that we can tackle those challenges together. I congratulate Kenneth Gibson for securing today's members' debate on education for children and young people with hearing impairments. I want to say from the outset that I do, like many other members here, recognise that there is much more to do. Mr Gibson rightly draws our attention to that. However, working together, I believe that there is no reason why we cannot create in Scotland an education system that lives up to all of our aspirations and unlocks the true potential of all of our pupils. To achieve that, we need to raise attainment and achievement for every pupil, not least young people with hearing impairments. The latest Scottish Government data shows that the average tariff score for deaf learners has increased by 5.4 per cent, deaf pupils going into employment has increased by 2 per cent and deaf leavers who are unemployed have fallen by 6.3 per cent. However, all of that said, I have accepted this previously, that a gap exists for attainment by deaf people, which we need to work to close. As Mr Robertson has stressed, in most, not all cases but in most cases, mainstream schools are going to be the setting for that education to be carried out and for us to work to close that gap. We want all children and young people to get the support that they need to reach their full potential and, as Mr Gibson points out, to reach the standards that are expected internationally as well. I am grateful to the minister. The minister said that it is also important that we have the preschool system in place, because it is at that early stage—the early stage of the early language development that we would expect of children who are not deaf to learn language skills before going to school—that deaf children require at that preschool level. Yes, indeed. I agree that, through GERFEC and lots of other interventions, we need to make sure that the earliest possible point is that not just individuals but families have the skills that they need to promote that communication. Indeed, as Mr Robertson has stressed, the needs of different people are going to be different and our approach has to be very personalised. Curriculum for Excellence supports that kind of personalisation, and it is all about ensuring that young people make the most of the educational opportunities that are available to them, to enable them to reach the potential that they have. James Baxter raised questions about qualifications in British Sign Language, and it is worth saying that, as those relate to teachers, the requirement for teacher Scotland regulations 2005 says that, when an education authority employs a teacher wholly or mainly to teach pupils who are hearing impaired, the teacher must process an appropriate qualification to teach such pupils. As Hans Alamalek says, we cannot obviously change the qualification of all teachers at once, but we must work to improve the qualifications of all teachers who are teaching with the deaf. I really must get to my conclusion, but, if it is brief, I will take an intervention. I thank the minister for giving me a way. I just wanted to ask him if he knows the percentage of teachers who are currently teaching deaf children who do have the appropriate qualifications and what targets he has put in place for that to improve. Obviously, in a mainstream secondary school, the number of teachers involved in an individual young person's life is going to be significant, so I do not have that figure to hand, although I will try to get it. I can say that there has been some questions raised around the data. I know that Ms Scanlon and others have raised questions about the data and the absolute number of pupils that there are. I can confirm that there are 2,534 pupils who are recorded as having a hearing impairment and 42 are recorded as deafblind. On the point that Ms Marra raises, I will get back to her with further figures. It is also worth mentioning that, as others have mentioned, the British Sign Language Scotland Bill, which has been put forward, in 2011, the then Minister for Public Health and Sport formally announced the Government's recognition of BSL as a language. As a person with that interest in language is myself, I think that that is a very important point for people to understand. BSL is not English in another form, it is a very distinctive first language for many people. As a Government, we continue to recognise the importance of BSL to the deaf community in Scotland and the wider contribution that it makes to the rich and varied experience of language in Scotland today. Members will be aware, as they have mentioned, that Mark Griffin recently introduced his members' BSL Scotland Bill, the main provision of which is to promote the use and understanding of BSL, which, among other things, requires BSL plans to be prepared and published by Scottish ministers and listed public authorities. I am delighted to announce today that the Government supports the principles of the bill. We share Mr Griffin's view that it will help to promote the use of BSL in Scotland and is consistent with our commitment to build a fairer and inclusive Scotland with opportunities for all. I have also offered to work with Mr Griffin to explore ways of simplifying and streaming the processes that are involved in reporting and review, and we believe that that would strengthen the provisions of the bill. The support that is provided to answer the point that was raised by Mr Scanlon at college and university is very important. The Government is committed to ensuring that all students with a disability are supported throughout their time, whether in college or university, through targeted support such as the disabled students allowance and other measures. From 2012 to 2000, I am in my last minute, I think, a fear. I am afraid not, Mr Robertson, I am sorry. By way of conclusion, there are many things that I think we can be proud of. While there is an improving picture, I, like Mr Gibson, know that we cannot be complacent as there is more to be done. I believe that Mr Gibson has done a service to deaf people today by raising these and many other issues. Like him and people who have spoken today, I want to put an end to the days when those with hearing impairments are disengaged from learning through lack of support. There is no reason why every child and young person should not receive the help and support that they need to grow and prosper. That is their entitlement and the Scottish Government will do everything in its power to make it a consistent reality across Scotland. I thank you all for taking part in this important debate, and I now suspend this meeting of Parliament until 2.30.