On Wednesday, I spoke at Holyrood in a debate focused on the Additional Support for Learning report that was published by the Parliament’s education, children and young people committee.

This is a hugely important report, which I very much support, and its publication was timely for me given the increasing number of constituents who have contacted me raising issues that are facing children with additional support needs.

Some of the initial issues that were raised with me concerned Inverclyde Council’s Play 4 All scheme, but as further dialogue took place, many more issues quickly came to the fore.

I’ve been engaging with the parents behind the ASN Parent & Carer Group Inverclyde, which was set up in the past few months in response to some of the gaps in childcare provision for children with additional support needs.

In recent years, improvements have taken place – for example, there are 17,330 pupil support staff in Scotland, the highest number on record and represents an increase of more than 2,000 since 2020.

Plus, work is being done to map out how ASL policy stretches across the education, health and social care sectors to ensure that we can work across boundaries to deliver better support.

However, there is still so much more to do – and I am committed, as is the SNP group on Inverclyde Council, to do all I can to help facilitate dialogue with local families and policy makers to help ensure their voices are heard, and further improvements are made, so that every child and every family can thrive irrespective of their needs.