The local authority might also fund them.

Attainment among ASN pupils is increasing and improving, according to last week’s ASL data, which is welcome news. Ten or 15 years ago, many of those young people would not have attained in the ways that they are now. We should celebrate that, because it was not the case in the past.

Yes, I caught some of Professor Alexis Jay’s evidence when I was sitting in my office this morning, and I think that it was quite helpful.

At that point, I was not privy to the internal dialogue on that between the chief social work adviser and Alexis Jay. I was making the point that a clarification—

I do.

I will defer to Natalie Don-Innes on the Promise, because, as you have pointed out, Mr Greer, I am recused from that topic.

Yes, briefly. Last year, we provided an uplift to the colleges sector of 2.6 per cent. There was also extra funding in the budget of £3.5 million for offshore wind and social care skills.

However, I am very alive to the fact that there are real challenges in our colleges. I met Colleges Scotland last week, ahead of the budget. As you would expect, I have also been having discussions at ministerial level with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government so that she is well appraised of the challenges in the colleges sector. Its sustainability is perhaps one of the most challenging parts of the education system at the current time. Mr Macpherson is leading work on sustainability in the sector and might want to say more on that.

I am mindful that our colleges are suffering and that, as a Government, we need to reflect on how we can better support their sustainability. They provide pathways in our communities for young people and adult learners, who universities are often not able to reach. It is important that they continue to exist and that we support them to have a sustainable footing. The briefing from Colleges Scotland has been helpful in that regard, and we are thinking about creative ways in which we can provide more support to the sector through the budget.

I am all ears to any suggestions that Opposition members might have in that regard—we exist in a Parliament of minorities, of course. If Opposition members want to come forward with budget proposals to support the colleges sector, the finance secretary and I would be very amenable to sitting down with them and talking about those in more detail. My view is that we will have to radically consider how we can support the sector into the future, because it is facing a number of challenges.

We are looking at all those issues. There is a sustainability challenge for the here and now, which we need to look at for the next financial year. We will have to consider that in relation to the budget. There are wider issues in relation to capital, which we have looked at and have provided supplementary support for in the past. I am very focused on the here and now and on working with the colleges sector on a longer-term vision, which is exactly the work that Mr Macpherson is leading on in relation to sustainability. I know the specific issues that Dundee and Angus College is facing in that regard, some of which are historic. We need to be mindful of what we can do in a one-year budget and what we might be able to do in the longer term. Those discussions are happening through my engagement with the finance secretary, with Mr Macpherson and with Colleges Scotland directly.

Adam Reid might want to say more about the capital work.

We are undertaking a range of things. Ms Don-Innes might want to say more in relation to the bairns’ hoose work, which she leads on. We are providing funding to the NSPCC and to Barnardo’s Scotland. I will say more about that in my statement to the Parliament later, so I need to be careful about anything I say here.

However, it is important that we look at third sector organisations that provide trauma-informed approaches, which we know work. That is why we have supported the bairns’ hoose programme, which takes funding from my portfolio, from justice and from health. That funding approach and the bairns’ hoose approach to supporting victims and survivors are reflective of our strategic approach to those issues across Government. Cross-funding requires all those areas of Government to be involved in providing that support and in supporting survivors. I am mindful of that when thinking about the support that might be available to survivors and victims through the national review.

The committee heard from Alexis Jay this morning about the work that has been undertaken in England on the truth project. As I said, I discussed the matter with Ms Don-Innes and Tam Baillie last week. Ministers are considering a number of areas in relation to trauma-informed responses. Again, I will say more about that to the Parliament later.

Ms Don-Innes might want to say more about her involvement in the bairns’ hoose programme, which probably encapsulates a lot of the Government’s work in relation to financial support.

Child protection falls across Government, but yes. I am fairly certain that the bairns’ hoose programme receives £8 million from each of those portfolios. I will need to check that, convener, so I will write to the committee on that—although Andrew Watson might be able to correct me.