Chamber and committees

We want to ensure that people at risk of Type 2 diabetes are identified and supported appropriately to help minimise the risk of health complications. This aim is reflected in our Diabetes Improvement Plan, published in November 2014, which includes the prevention and early detection of diabetes as one of its main priorities. The plan contains a specific action to develop and implement an appropriate framework for assessing the risk of diabetes for people currently undiagnosed to support early identification, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes. We are committed to working with our wider health strategy to address the underlying risk factors associated with diabetes by reducing obesity, encouraging healthy eating and promote healthier living across Scotland.

This Government has exceeded its target to deliver over 25,000 Modern Apprenticeships each year with over 101,000 new opportunities delivered in this parliamentary term. In the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway local authority areas, 1,160 individuals started a modern apprenticeship during 2014 to 2015. Our national skills body, Skills Development Scotland (SDS), is involved in a range of activity and partnership work on a local and national level to support skills opportunities in the textile sector across the south of Scotland and in other areas. SDS is an active member of the Scottish Textiles Skills Partnership and the National Textiles Forum, the Industry leadership group for the sector. SDS plays an active development role with many of the companies in the sector though its participation in the Regional Textiles Training Groups in Scottish Borders. SDS also has direct relationships with textiles companies locally via the team of relationship accounts executives and employer engagement advisers across Scotland.

It is the responsibility of health boards to provide services appropriate to the needs of their local population. If it is deemed that a patient will benefit from a particular therapy, clinicians will ensure that appropriate services are provided to meet their needs. Community mental health teams would decline a referral if it didn't fit the service specification set out by the health board. Typically community mental health teams accept referrals from patients with known or possible mental illness.

The Scottish Government has no plans to commission an audit on the availability of general and specific counselling services within and outwith Scotland. NHS Boards are responsible for ensuring adequate provision of evidence based psychological therapies for their local populations. Information about the evidence base for psychological therapies is published by NHS Education for Scotland in Mental Health in Scotland - A Guide to delivering evidence-based Psychological Therapies in Scotland - The Matrix 2011 which can be found online at http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/media/20137/Psychology%20Matrix%202013.pdf

NHS boards and local authorities are responsible for working with their partners to provide care, services and support which meets the assessed needs of people living with an eating disorder across Scotland, including those in remote and rural areas, in line with their statutory obligations and Scottish Government policy.

I have been carefully considering the strongly held views on both sides of the argument about the possibility of allowing tail docking of working dogs in Scotland. I have recently been asked by the rural affairs, climate change and environment committee to provide an update on the Scottish Government's position on this subject and will reply to them shortly.

In 2011 a process of mainstreaming Keep Well began across NHS boards in Scotland, with the Scottish Government phasing out ring-fenced funding for the programme between 2014-15 to 2016-17. The expectation is that by the end of March 2017 NHS boards will have prioritised their services to reflect local need.

Counsellors in NHS Scotland are usually employed by psychology services within NHS Boards. Information on the numbers employed each year since 2007 is shown in the following table. Information on the number of counsellors employed by other services is not held centrally.

Table 1: Number of counsellors (whole time equivalent) employed in psychology services in NHS Scotland.

Source NES-ISD psychology workforce database.

It should be noted that counselling psychologists are a different staff group from counsellors. Information on the numbers employed each year since 2010 is shown in the following table.

Table 2: Number of counselling psychologists (whole time equivalent) employed in psychology services in NHS Scotland.

Source NES-ISD psychology workforce database

Further information on the statistics, including information on how the data are collected and notes to aid interpretation, is given in the 'FAQs' section of the workforce statistics website at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Counsellors in NHS Scotland are usually employed by psychology services within NHS boards. Information on the numbers employed each year since 2007 is provided in the answer to question S4W-26941 on 20 August 2015. Information on how many posts have been filled, advertised or unfilled in each of those years is not held centrally. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.