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I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-11532 on
9 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 are continuing to take forward work on our social isolation and loneliness strategy both across government and in collaboration with stakeholders and expect to publish for consultation in early 2018.

Yes. Our national strategy to tackle social isolation and loneliness will recognise the links between loneliness and social isolation, and the importance of tackling both.

Our commitment to work on older people’s issues is underpinned by £490,000 of funding in the current financial year. This broadly maintains levels of total annual funding of around half a million pounds for work in this field over the last three years for several organisations.

We are continuing to fund SOPA to deliver its core role, which is to organise and deliver their National Assembly and at least one Parliamentary reception in 2017-18. We fully considered SOPA’s application for funding in addition to that, however their proposal largely focused on sustaining the infrastructure of the organisation rather than specific work to promote equality for older people.

I am meeting with Mr Cole-Hamilton and representatives of SOPA on 10 January and I welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue further with him then.

The information held centrally is not recorded at this level of detail. The number of clinical nurse specialists in post can be found on the workforce statistics web site . Note that this information is published annually in December.

We are working together with partners to improve the outcomes and support for people with rare diseases as outlined in the Implementation Plan 'It's Not Rare to Have a Rare Disease'. The Scottish Government cancer strategy 'Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action' complements the actions of the rare disease plan through its focus on early detection, diagnosis and treatment for all forms of cancer, including rare cancers.

I recognise the vital role specialist nurses play in patient care. That is why we are investing £2.5 million annually in specialist nursing and care.

I expect all NHS Boards to ensure that patients with conditions such as myeloproliferative neoplasms have appropriate access to a range of professionals, including specialist nurses, to ensure optimum management of their condition.

Information on how many children and young people who have been turned away from each mental health impatient unit in each of the last three years, (including breakdown) is not held centrally.

The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland's Young person monitoring report 2016-17 was published on 18 October 2017

We warmly welcomed the MWC’s report, and its 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”.

In Autumn and Winter 2017-18, the Scottish Government will engage with stakeholders with a view to developing a new suicide prevention action plan for publication in 2018. The key themes of the existing Suicide Prevention Strategy namely improving responses to distress, improving the NHS response to suicide, talking about suicide, and developing the evidence base remain pertinent to continuing efforts to reduce the suicide rate; we continue to work with stakeholders to implement the commitments under these themes.