While in Scotland there is opportunistic chlamydia testing for anyone who may have put themselves at risk, there is currently no routine anti-natal screening for chlamydia.

Untreated genital chlamydia infection in women can result in pelvic pain and scarring known as Pelvic Inflammatory Disease which can progress to ectopic pregnancy and infertility.

There is also some evidence to suggest that untreated genital chlamydia infection in men can affect fertility.

Tayside, Lothian and Lanarkshire were part of Phase 1 of the Counterweight programme. Phase 2 of Counterweight was rolled out from April 2008 to NHS boards in Ayrshire and Arran, Grampian and Fife. Phase 3 of Counterweight was rolled out from August 2008 to NHS boards in Highland, Borders, Forth Valley, the Western Isles, Shetland and Orkney, with NHS Dumfries and Galloway due to commence delivery in 2009.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde run their own similar weight management programme.

The Scottish Government is investing £56 million, of which £40 million is new money, in initiatives set out in Healthy Eating, Active Living, our three year action plan published in June 2008, which sets out the actions we will take, together with partners to improve diet, increase physical activity and tackle obesity. We are also working across government at a senior level and will work with all sectors of Scottish society to develop a longer term strategy to tackle obesity. This will build on existing work such as that seen in schools to promote healthy eating and increase physical activity.

Statistics on childhood and adult obesity are available from the Scottish Health Survey 2003 (the most recent results currently available). There is considerable variation in rates of obesity by gender as well as age. According to published gender breakdowns, the highest rates of obesity are observed for:

Women aged 65 to 74 years (40.5%);

Men aged 55 to 64 years (33.3%).

Further Scottish Health Survey statistics on obesity are available from:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/11/25145024/50271.

A range of evaluations are underway or planned in support of Healthy Eating, Active Living: an action plan to improve diet, increase physical activity and tackle obesity. For example, the HEAT target tackling childhood obesity is a developmental target and will be reviewed after its first year. The requirement for the monitoring and evaluation of the interventions being delivered by each health board is currently being determined. Counterweight has evaluation component built into the contract which provides the Scottish Government and health boards with regular progress reports including preliminary results of patient interventions, clinical outcomes, health economics and qualitative research.

Statistics on childhood obesity are available from the Scottish Health Survey 2003 (the most recent results currently available from this source). According to these data, 8.0% of children aged five to 15 years were severely obese. Within this, there is notable variation by age and gender:

	% Severely Obese
	Boys	Girls
5 to 7 years	8.7	6.4
8 to 10 years	7.8	9.7
11 to 12 years	10.8	4.7
13 to 15 years	8.9	7.3

Source: Scottish Health Survey 2003.

Further Scottish Health Survey statistics on childhood obesity are published at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/11/25145024/50271 (see Table 5.5 on page 123).

The NHS Information Services Division also publish statistics on childhood obesity, based on the Child Health Surveillance Programme. These figures also show variation in rates of severely obese children by age and gender:

http://www.isdscotland.org/child_obesity (click on obesity statistics to access a list of available tables and charts).

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO), of the Scottish Government''s Health Directorates, has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland. The CSO is currently funding 12 research trials involving medicines at a cost of £2.7 million. Funds of £5.9 million have also been allocated to the NHS in Scotland this year to support an increase in clinical research and to fund research networks. Of this, some £324,000 has been allocated to the two experimental cancer medicine centres in Glasgow and Edinburgh and £325,000 for the medicines for children research network. More generally, the CSO allocates £38 million to the NHS to meet the additional costs of supporting research funded by major research funders such as the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust. Some of this research will also involve trials of medicinal products.

In addition, the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise have in the last five years allocated through a range of investments and grants approximately £35 million towards projects involving investment or development in drug discovery.

The Guidance from the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health states that women with risk factors for chlamydia should be routinely screened. Clinicians who provide contraceptive coils are required to follow this guidance and will routinely discuss risk factors with their patients and offer testing for chlamydia.

No specific research has, or is currently, being undertaken to determine the availability of advocacy services for mental health patients.

However, the University of Stirling was commissioned to carry out research into the named person role and to consider its interaction with other forms of patient representation under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 as part of its research programme into the operation of the new act. The study explored the named person role from the perspective of a range of stakeholders and made recommendations for the development of patient representation. A final draft of this work has now been received and a report and research findings will be published in due course.

The Mental Welfare Commission has a programme of scheduled visits to mental health and learning disability services. Though these visits do not constitute research done to determine the availability of advocacy services for mental health patients, this is one of the elements that they examine. The commission''s findings are summarised in their annual reports from 2005-06 onwards.