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I have met representatives from various trades unions, both officially and unofficially by meeting and speaking at ‘Scrap the Cap’ demonstration, outside Annual Reviews at NHS Fife, Lothian and Lanarkshire, together with meeting them more formally at the Area Partnership Forum meetings at the reviews.

NHS Scotland works with their partners to provide a range of evidence based services, care and support to veterans with mental health problems, including PTSD, across a range of community and hospital based settings.

Treatment for PTSD is determined by clinicians and will be based on a detailed assessment and tailored to the needs of the individual. Treatments can vary from low to medium level interventions such as the range of psychological therapies available on the NHS; to more specialist care and treatment such as Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) or trauma focused CBT. Individuals with PTSD can also have other mental or physical health needs, and the NHS is ideally suited to consider a holistic approach to care and treatment and to respond appropriately.

The Scottish Government also continues to fund the provision of specialist mental health services by Combat Stress for veterans resident in Scotland through commissioned service arrangements with NHS Scotland at £1.224 million this year.

The Scottish Government engages with the Scottish Council of Independent Schools regularly, to discuss a range of issues relating to the provision of education in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12085 on
27 October 2017. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at .

We welcome the publication of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland's Young person monitoring report 2016-17. We also warmly welcome the MWC’s conclusion that the significant and continued reduction in the number of admissions of young people to non-specialist settings “appears to have come about as a result of targeted investment and focussed, co-ordinated service re-design of key elements of CAMH services across the country”.

The report contains two recommendations as follows:

1. Hospital managers of the regional adolescent units should continue to review admission procedures to establish whether access to the unit can be improved for all new referrals out-of-hours and at the weekend.

2. The Scottish Government, together with health boards should review the availability of IPCU beds nationally for young people under the age of 18 in Scotland to ensure that young people requiring such provision have timely access to these environments when required.

We would expect Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships to give very careful consideration to the first recommendation.

Regarding the second recommendation, work has previously been carried out on behalf of NHS Directors of Planning and the conclusion was that CAMHS IPCU capacity should be developed at regional level. We expect NHS Boards to deliver on this, and to give careful consideration to the MWC’s recommendation.

As stated in our Mental Health Strategy, we want evidence-based interventions to address behavioural and emotional issues in children and young people to be available across Scotland. To this end:

• we are investing £150 million over five years to improve mental health; this includes £15 million to support better access to CAMHS and innovation; and £10 million to support new ways of improving mental health in primary care;

• we fund NHS Boards to provide safe and effective care to meet the needs of all population groups, including girls in their early to mid-teens who self-harm. Guidance on the safe and effective care and management of those aged 8 and over who self harm is available from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

The Scottish Strategy for Autism is a ten-year strategy. In 2014 the Scottish Government published a progress report on the strategy’s first two years – the foundation stage – which can be accessed here .

In 2015 the Scottish Government reframed the strategy’s recommendations into an outcomes-based approach, which identified priorities for the period 2015-17. The outcomes focus on improving services so that autistic people live healthier lives, have choice and control over the services they use and are supported are support to be independent and active citizens. The medium-term priorities referenced in the original strategy document, including ensuring autistic people have access to integrated service provision across the lifespan, remain priorities.

The Scottish Government continues also to review the progress of the strategy through quarterly meetings with the national autism governance group. This group provides service expertise, strategic leadership and challenges the delivery of the strategy’s outcomes. The strategy’s progress is highlighted at the annual autism conference, which was most recently held in January 2017.

The Scottish Government are currently refreshing the Scottish Strategy for Autism. There are plans to undertake a full evaluation of the strategy in due course.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving the lives of autistic people, their families and carers through the Scottish Strategy for Autism. The initial £13.4million allocated to the strategy has been spent and used to help embed the strategy across local and national services and has focussed on key areas including diagnosis, education and transitions. This funding has also been used to support local and national projects working with autistic people, their families and carers through the Autism Innovation and Development fund.

Current funding is provided to the strategy on an annual basis subject to the UK wide spending review in line with all other Scottish Government departments.

Whilst the Scottish Strategy for Autism is a 10 year strategy, the progress is regularly monitored. In October 2014 the Scottish Government published a progress report which can be accessed here:

In 2015 the strategy was refreshed into an Outcomes Approach to focus on four outcomes with a programme of priorities to 2017. The Scottish Government are currently refreshing the priorities to take the strategy to 2021. The Scottish Government plan to undertake a full evaluation of the strategy in due course.

The Scottish Government reviews the progress of the strategy through quarterly meetings with the national autism Governance Group. This group provides service expertise, strategic leadership and challenges the delivery of the strategy’s outcomes - aimed at improving outcomes for individuals and families living with autism. The strategy’s progress is highlighted at the annual autism conference, last held in January 2017.

In 2015 we launched an Autism Innovation and Development fund to support innovative projects working to achieve the outcomes we set out in our 2015 refreshed approach. To support the successful delivery of these projects we commissioned Inspiring Scotland to work with them. Inspiring Scotland report on the progress of these projects to Scottish Government officials on a regular basis, their latest report can be accessed from the following link: