Chamber and committees

This information is not heldcentrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-24513 on 19 April 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The recruitment of history teachersto schools is a matter for local authorities (LAs), depending on the curriculumneeds of individual schools.

The Scottish Executive carriesout an annual teacher workforce planning exercise to ensure at a national leveladequate numbers of newly qualified teachers are trained for when they are requiredin publicly funded schools. This takes into account factors such as the age profileof the profession; changing pupil numbers; numbers of new entrants to the professionand those leaving due to resignation, retirement etc.

As part of the exercise subjectspecialisms are prioritised to make certain intakes to initial teacher educationreflect the teachers needed. Factors which are considered in the prioritisationexercise include vacancy levels reported by LAs and the demand from LAs for probationerteachers in each sector/subject.

The Scottish Schools AdolescentLifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) provides national estimates of the proportion of young people aged 13 and15, who report the use of cannabis in the previous year. The following table detailsthe findings:

	13 Year Olds Total (%)	15 Year Olds Total (%)
2000	9	28
2002	10	31
2004	10	28

 

Prescription data collected centrallydo not relate to the number of patients receiving treatment but to the numbers andcost of prescribed items dispensed in the community by community pharmacists anddispensing doctors.

These data cannot be used asa proxy for the number of patients receiving treatment with any particular drug.

The exact number of childrenunder 16 diagnosed with depression in Scotland in each year since 1999 is not available centrally. However,national estimates of the numbers of children consulting for depression can be givenbased on the number of patients seen for the condition in general practices participatingin PTI (Practice Team Information). PTI data is obtained from a sample of ScottishGeneral Practices. This sample has a pattern of age, sex, deprivation and urban/ruraldistribution that closely matches that of the Scottish general practice population.The number of participating practices is too small to allow estimates for individualNHS board areas.

The estimated number of childrenunder 16 seen in general practices in Scotland for depression, based on PTI data(GP only) and standardised by sex and deprivation, is shown in the following table:

Estimated Scottish prevalenceof depression in children under 16, by year:

Calendar year	Estimated Number of Scottish Children (under 16)
1999	2,550
2000	2,350
2001	2,350
2002	2,750
2003	2,700

Source: ISD Scotland.

Note: estimates are rounded tothe nearest 50.

This information is not centrallyheld.

The Chief Scientist Office(CSO), within the Scottish Executive Health Department, has responsibility forencouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland. Itsupports research projects of a sufficiently high standard initiated by the research community in Scotland.This role is well known and advertised throughout the health care and academiccommunity.

CSO is currently funding astudy of anti-depressant prescribing in primary care, which will consider thefactors influencing doctors’ prescribing decisions including the socio-economiccircumstances of patients. The study, which is being conducted by the University of Glasgow, is due to be completed in February 2007. Thefindings of this study are likely to be available in early summer 2007. Anexecutive summary of the findings will be available on CSO’s website at www.show.scot.nhs.uk/csoat that time.

The external evaluation of the Doing Well By People with Depression programme will report in June 2006 andwill provide a solid information base on which to make decisions on therecommended initiatives for roll-out.

The programme has aimed toincrease access to treatment for mild to moderate depression in primary careand also provide increased choice of treatments for patients. The programme didnot set targets for the reduction in the prescribing of anti depressant medication.The evaluation will comment on the impact of providing guided self helpservices on increasing access and choice to a range of treatments and will drawout any learning about anti depressant prescribing rates, along with otherissues if this is available through the data gathered.

The roll out of the learningfrom Doing Well By People with Depression will focus on sharing the evidencebase to support service development, ensuring that effective approaches areincorporated into the NHS QIS Integrated Care Pathway for depression and alsosupporting service change as part of the Delivering For Health , Mental HealthDelivery Plan.

The Doing Well By PeopleWith Depression Programme has commissioned an external evaluation which is dueto report in June this year. The evaluation has been conducted to provide bothquantitative and qualitative information and to do this will report on thefollowing; impact of interventions undertaken by pilot sites in terms ofservice user experience and satisfaction, the effective use of resources includingaccess and referral times, the profile of patients using the service andclinical outcomes following interventions.