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The Scottish Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee (SMASAC) working group, convened in early 2009, is currently considering the best way to organise services for people in Scotland who have post-polio syndrome/late effects of polio (PPS/LEOP). This includes consideration of a multidisciplinary clinic model, which currently does not exist in Scotland, and the development of a managed clinical network (MCN) model. The MCN model would ensure that people with PPS are referred to the appropriate specialists for their particular needs, while maintaining local services for those people whose needs can be met at primary care/community level.

The SMASAC working group expects to complete its report and recommendations by spring 2010. Meantime, patients can be referred to local specialists according to their particular needs.

Other services such as those provided in England can be accessed by Scottish patients, if funding for such assessment or treatment is agreed by the patient''s NHS board of residence. This would normally only be approved if the specific assessment or treatment was not available in Scotland, or for other exceptional circumstances.

Based on UK and international studies, the estimate of the number of people in Scotland who may have late effects of polio (LEOP) is between 6,000 and 10,200. Accurate estimates of prevalence are however difficult, for a number of reasons. Counting cases of diagnosed Post Polio Syndrome (PPS) excludes the many polio survivors who may be experiencing new problems as a result of their previous polio, but who may not have PPS as clinically defined. This wider group can be referred to as experiencing LEOP.

The number of people with LEOP or PPS is not formally monitored. The working group set up by the Scottish Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee is however, with advice from the Scottish Public Health Network, attempting to establish a better estimate of prevalence.

There is no central register of children and young people with speech, language or communication impairments. However, the number of school pupils receiving additional support due to a language or speech disorder is reported annually in Pupils in Scotland and the Independent School Census. Pupils in Scotland is available on the government website at:

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The Independent School Census can be located at:

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I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-28424, on 10 November 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at .

I do not currently propose to develop a separate national plan for services for children and young people with communication support needs in Scotland.

Scottish Government policy and legislation, including Curriculum for Excellence, the Early Years Framework, Getting it Right for Every Child and the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Acts 2004 and 2009, focus on the need to identify and meet the individual needs of all children and young people, including those with communication support needs.

Since the submission of Petition PE873 in 2007, considerable progress has been made. Scottish Government officials met representatives of the Scottish Post Polio Network (SPPN) in August 2007 to discuss how to improve service for people living with PPS in Scotland. As a result of these discussions, in early 2009 the Scottish Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee (SMASAC) agreed to set up a working group, with a remit to consider issues around the definition of the condition, the collection of robust data on its prevalence in Scotland and the development of best practice guidelines. This work is now well under way, and the working group is due to present its recommendations to SMASAC in spring 2010.

To promote awareness of the management of the condition, the Scottish Government Health Directorates have, on behalf of SPPN, issued a copy of guidance on The Late Effects of Polio produced by Queensland Health, Australia, to clinicians across NHSScotland who had indicated an interest in the subject.

Recognising also that awareness-raising should be extended to polio survivors in the community who may benefit from a better understanding of PPS and the treatment options available, the Scottish Government funded a national media campaign featuring case studies of polio survivors which ran in national and local press through September and October 2009. This has been extremely successful in promoting contact with the SPPN and thereby directing polio survivors to sources of help, advice and medical opinion/treatment. The working group will also be able to draw on a wider range of patient experience in producing its report.

The expenditure on speech and language therapy in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board is shown in the following tables.

NHS Board	1999-2000 £000	2000-01 £000	2001-02 £000	2002-03 £000	2003-04 £000	2004-05 £000	2005-06 £000	2006-07 £000	2007-08 £000
Argyll and Clyde	Ìý1,151	Ìý1,976	Ìý1,711	Ìý2,212	Ìý1,683	Ìý2,110	Ìý2,399	Ìý	Ìý
Ayrshire and Arran	Ìý601	Ìý1,187	Ìý1,105	Ìý1,280	Ìý1,242	Ìý1,558	Ìý1,601	Ìý1,769	Ìý1,858
Borders	Ìý466	Ìý542	Ìý484	Ìý524	Ìý664	Ìý809	Ìý935	Ìý1,279	Ìý1,222
Dumfries and Galloway	Ìý533	Ìý693	Ìý755	Ìý856	Ìý1,086	Ìý472	Ìý862	Ìý653	Ìý662
Fife	Ìý1,092	Ìý1,367	Ìý1,338	Ìý1,297	Ìý1,377	Ìý1,624	Ìý2,237	Ìý2,318	Ìý2,060
Forth Valley	Ìý1,228	Ìý1,596	Ìý1,695	Ìý1,757	Ìý1,969	Ìý1,118	Ìý1,228	Ìý1,512	Ìý1,457
Grampian	Ìý1,437	Ìý1,820	Ìý1,960	Ìý2,279	Ìý2,063	Ìý2,413	Ìý2,564	Ìý2,554	Ìý2,930
Greater Glasgow	Ìý2,449	Ìý2,120	Ìý2,255	Ìý2,313	Ìý2,125	Ìý2,341	Ìý2,474	Ìý	Ìý
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	Ìý	Ìý	Ìý	Ìý	Ìý	Ìý	Ìý	Ìý4,117	Ìý4,176
Highland (old)	Ìý778	Ìý778	Ìý1,182	Ìý1,151	Ìý1,405	Ìý1,344	Ìý1,122	Ìý	Ìý
Highland (new)	Ìý	Ìý	Ìý	Ìý	Ìý	Ìý	Ìý	Ìý2,178	Ìý2,031
Lanarkshire	Ìý2,278	Ìý2,273	Ìý1,927	Ìý2,624	Ìý2,642	Ìý2,772	Ìý3,204	Ìý3,459	Ìý3,439
Lothian	Ìý1,329	Ìý2,417	Ìý1,069	Ìý1,206	Ìý1,027	Ìý1,087	Ìý783	Ìý893	Ìý1,229
Orkney	Ìý61	Ìý65	Ìý97	Ìý79	Ìý86	Ìý96	Ìý99	Ìý95	Ìý146
Shetland	Ìý71	Ìý80	Ìý104	Ìý79	Ìý60	Ìý50	Ìý138	Ìý105	Ìý124
Tayside	Ìý591	Ìý1,188	Ìý1,425	Ìý1,473	Ìý1,936	Ìý2,043	Ìý2,039	Ìý1,711	Ìý1,825
Western Isles	Ìý222	Ìý252	Ìý417	Ìý535	Ìý653	Ìý771	Ìý544	Ìý468	Ìý511
Total	Ìý14,287	Ìý18,354	Ìý17,524	Ìý19,665	Ìý20,018	Ìý20,608	Ìý22,229	Ìý23,111	Ìý23,670

 

I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

The following table details the level of spend by the Scottish Prison Service for speech and language therapy services since 1999.

2000-01	£8,123
2001-02	£8,424
2002-03	£8,727
2003-04	£15,540
2004-05	£20,003
2005-06	£12,041
2006-07	£18,676
2007-08	£21,285
2008-09	£20,640
2009 - Year to date	£12,292
Total	£145,751

 

Evidence from the 1996 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) suggested that around 800,000 (23%) working age adults in Scotland have low levels of literacy. The Scottish Government has set in hand a further wide ranging survey to update these findings. The results will be available in spring 2010. Currently, the Scotland Performs website measures literacy and numeracy through the use of a proxy indicator. That indicator has shown a steady decrease in the percentage of adults with SCQF Level 4 qualifications or below, to 15% in 2008.

Information on what the cost is to the economy of adults with a speech, language or communication impairment is not held centrally.