Thank you very much indeed, Presiding Officer. I want to make it absolutely clear that this is not about dismissing support for students with ALN who are studying an HE course. I do recognise that, increasingly, FEIs are providing higher education courses, and as we move forward with our reforms, the likelihood is that there will be continuing blurring of the lines between further education institutions and higher education institutions. But we have to recognise that, in making this distinction, there is a separate but different system of support for higher education learners who have additional learning needs. For instance, the disabled students allowance is available for them, and there are separate support mechanisms in place. 

It has always been the intention that this legislation would refer only to further education and to compulsory education and not to the higher education sector. And if the Bill was to go forward in this way, you would have a different distinction between different types of higher education learners being entitled to different levels of support.

It's also important to recognise that because of the significant cross-border flows around higher education, it would make the creation of a separate system of support quite difficult to monitor and to enforce. Therefore, I would ask Members to support the amendments.