Chamber and committees

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) delivers and commissions training for clinical psychologists, clinical associates in applied psychology, and neuro-psychologists, as well as specific training for particular evidence-based therapies which require a significant professional expertise. Training in counselling is available and commissioned elsewhere.

It is for local authorities and NHS boards to design and determine the level of services provided to meet the needs of children and young people who require access to counselling and psychotherapy services, based on local priorities and clinical need.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, requires education authorities to identify, meet and keep under review the additional support needs of all children for whose education they are responsible, including those with behavioural, social, emotional or mental health difficulties. Appropriate agencies, which includes NHS boards, are required to assist an education authority in the exercise of any of its functions under the act.

As part of our commitment to implementing The Mental Health of Children and Young People: A Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care by 2015, NHS boards are required to work in partnership with local authorities, schools and the voluntary sector. As part of this function, NHS boards are making available a named health link contact to every school to ensure support and links are in place to child and adolescent mental health services - both voluntary and statutory.

To address the recognised shortfall in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS) workforce we are investing an additional £5.5 million more per year by 2011-12. This will increase the number of psychologists working in specialist CAMHS as well as support our new waiting time target for specialist CAMHS which means that by March 2013 no one will wait longer than 26 weeks from referral to treatment.

The provision of supplemental oxygen on board Aircraft is a matter for individual airlines and the process is set out in their conditions of carriage. The UK Department for Transport''s 2008 Code of Practice on Access to Air Travel for Disabled Persons and Persons with Reduced Mobility also provides guidance on the carriage of oxygen required for medical use. The relevant sections are at 7.30-7.32 of the code in the link below:

www.dft.gov.uk/transportforyou/access/aviationshipping/accesstoairtravelfordisabled.pdf.

We are working closely with NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NHS boards to expand and increase access to psychological therapies for all ages in a range of settings.

We have already established a Psychological Therapies Group (PTG) to administer the implementation of the advice in The Matrix - a tool for NHS boards to use in reviewing available evidence and in considering which psychological interventions might best be used to meet local need and demand. Recently formed sub-groups of the PTG oversee The Matrix''s continuous updating and expansion into other key priority areas in mental health.

NES is working to increase the provision of training in evidence based interventions which are effective for depression (at both certificate and diploma level) such as CBT and other therapies, as well as funding Psychological Therapies Training Co-ordinator posts in boards to provide the educational infrastructure necessary to ensure training and supervision are well organised, sustainable and have maximum service impact.

We are committed to developing a HEAT target for access to psychological therapies for announcement in 2011-12.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing access to psychological therapies for those with mental illness.

The NHS Living Life Pilot, being run by NHS24 for the Scottish Government, offers CBT Self Help Coaching by telephone and three CBT Therapists are employed for this purpose at NHS Living Life.

The Widening Access to Self Help Therapies (WISH) Programme is hosted for the Scottish Government by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. This programme is designed to offer multiple ways of accessing CBT Self Help, such as via CD Rom, college courses and website access.

This material is available to be used by people themselves, or by people offering care and support, including counsellors.

This information is not held. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s Case Management Database records details of specific charges. It is not possible to extract details of offences which have originated from European Union legislation. Some offences are derived from regulations, which do not require to be transposed into domestic law. Other offences are derived from directives and decisions which do require domestic legislation. The domestic statute does not necessarily identify the EU background to the legislation.

The per capita spend is calculated on the basis of the total spend by each of the boards in 2008-09 including elements of non-recurring funding.

The bulk of funding made available to NHS boards is allocated on the basis of formula. The formula assesses each NHS board''s relative need for funding using information about its population size and characteristics that influence the need for healthcare in terms of hospital services, community services and GP prescribing. To prevent turbulence, the move to formula target shares is being phased in over a number of years to ensure that no NHS board loses out. In 2008-09, NHS Shetland and NHS Western Isles received baseline allocations which were above their formula target shares and NHS Orkney received a baseline allocation below its formula target share.

The variations between the boards'' per capita spend reflects the relative healthcare needs of each board''s resident population under the allocation formula, each board''s current allocation of funds relative to its formula target allocation and the impact of the inclusion of elements of non-recurring funding.

We have a specific commitment to expand and improve access to psychological therapies for all ages. We are working closely with our partners in NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NHS boards to deliver this commitment and meet patient''s needs better and sooner. Part of our strategy involves enhancing capacity within the service, and training current NHS staff to deliver a range of evidence based interventions.

We are committed to developing a HEAT target for access to psychological therapies over this year for announcement in 2011-12.

This information is not collected centrally. This Scottish Government is committed to developing a referral to treatment target for psychological therapies, and as part of that work is developing information systems to track waiting times for those therapies that may be covered by the target.

The National Delivery Plan for Children and Young People''s Specialist Services in Scotland, published last year, recognised gastrointestinal disease as an area requiring investment. £1.112 million has been allocated across Scotland to provide improved and sustainable services for all children with these conditions, and further investment is proposed for 2010-11.

There is limited evidence available as to the relationship between gastrointestinal disease and Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), however Scottish doctors are currently researching methods to measure the prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms in children with ASD.