Chamber and committees

The Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education commissions training to meet the professional accreditation requirements for chartered clinical psychologists. Formal teaching for and clinical experience of psychology services for children, young people and their families is a core component of all clinical psychology training. Within that element of training, autistic spectrum disorders are a core topic.

This information is not currently available.

Guidelines for initial teacher education courses in Scotland, which are in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 18071), require that courses prepare teachers entering the profession to be responsive to the needs of all pupils in respect of health and general well-being. The guidelines are not prescriptive and each training institution develops their own programme.Good practice guidance on the administration of medicine in schools, which is in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 15847), recommends that school staff should have general awareness training for a number of medical conditions.

Details of local authority projects are not held centrally. However, the Scottish Executive's Innovation Grants programme for voluntary and non-statutory organisations has funded several projects on various aspects of transition for young people with special educational needs, including Autistic Spectrum Disorder.In addition, in response to the Beattie Committee report, the Scottish Executive has made available additional resources of £22.6 million over the period 2001-04 to take forward action on inclusiveness. £15.1 million is available for the development of key worker support, improved identification of learning and support needs and tracking. Careers companies have developed, and are co-ordinating, multi-agency projects to improve transition for Scotland's most vulnerable young people including those with Asperger's Syndrome. In association with Career Development Edinburgh and Lothians, Stevenson College is undertaking a project which will research the needs of young people with Communication Impairment and Asperger's Syndrome.

This is a matter for ENTRUST, the regulator of the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme. The information requested is not held centrally.

This is a matter for HM Customs and Excise. The information requested is not held centrally.

The number of classroom assistants employed by education authorities in 2001-02 is not available. The latest returns for the Excellence Fund show that at March this year education authorities employed 2,663 FTE classroom assistants. A breakdown by authority is set out in the following table.

Authority		Classroom Assistants 2000-01 (FTE)
Aberdeen City		124
Aberdeenshire		108
Angus		49
Argyll & Bute		23
Clackmannanshire		21
Dumfries & Galloway		64
Dundee		64
East Ayrshire		69
East Dunbartonshire		80
East Lothian		31
East Renfrewshire		70
Edinburgh		147
Eilean Siar		5
Falkirk		88
Fife		156
Glasgow		358
Highland		79
Inverclyde		60
Midlothian		42
Moray		51
North Ayrshire		81
North Lanarkshire		186
Orkney		4
Perth & Kinross		54
Renfrewshire		131
Scottish Borders		49
Shetland Islands		5
Stirling		60
South Ayrshire		203
South Lanarkshire		27
West Dunbartonshire		64
West Lothian		109
Total

A theoretical knowledge of autistic spectrum disorder is required for all candidates sitting the examination for membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which is the first level qualification for all those aspiring to become consultant psychiatrists. In the second phase of training, as specialist registrars, candidates for child and adolescent psychiatry posts will all be trained in the assessment, management, and collaborative approach to the problems experienced by people with autistic spectrum disorder, and those who care for them.

The National Research Register (NRR) records that there were no research projects carried out in the last five years into people over 40 diagnosed with autism. A copy of the NRR is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 17404).

While a number of psychiatrists specialise in the treatment of specific conditions, they will treat patients with a wide range of psychiatric needs. Information is not collected on those who deal only with autism and Asperger's Syndrome, as staff data is classified by main specialty only and does not identify sub-categories of specialty or special interest.