Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is relatively common, and is managed across primary care and specialist mental health services. The provision of health services is the responsibility of local health boards. The Psychological Therapies Matrix (published by NHS Education for Scotland) provides guidance for Health Boards and Integration Authorities on psychological therapy treatment options, including for OCD:

http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/education-and-training/by-discipline/psychology/the-matrix-(2015)-a-guide-to-delivering-evidence-based-psychological-therapies-in-scotland.aspx

Any referrals to general psychological therapies, including for OCD, are subject to the LDP access standard. The Scottish Government has announced a £54.1 million package of funding over four years from 2016-17 to improve access to mental health services.

During our engagement on the next Mental Health Strategy, we invited written responses on an engagement paper outlining our proposed priorities, and received nearly 600 responses.

The responses were independently analysed and a full report published online, which can be viewed at: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/12/1634/0

One of the groups suggested as a priority by respondents was families and carers.

All of the feedback we received has helped shape our thinking when developing the Strategy, which we will publish in the coming weeks.

The Scottish Government does not directly support the Spartans alternative school in Edinburgh or any other similar institutions across Scotland. Some Edinburgh schools do contribute to costs but that, and funding for any similar institutions, is a matter for schools and local authorities to consider based on their local needs and circumstances.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing physical activity and we want to make Scotland a more active country by encouraging people, and in particular young people, to make physical activity a part of their everyday lives.

98% of primary and secondary schools across Scotland continue to provide at least two hours or two periods of PE each week, in line with the Programme for Government 2016 commitment to maintain the PE commitment. There are no plans to review this target.

This information is not held centrally.

It is the role of the Scottish Government to provide policies, frameworks and resources to NHS boards so they can deliver services that meet the needs of their local populations. Within this context, it is a matter for NHS boards to plan, budget for and deliver the services required to meet the assessed needs of their resident populations.

NHS Lothian will be taking over Deans and Eliburn Medical Practice from 1 April 2017 and will ensure that patients continue to receive a high standard of care.

NHS boards have various means of supporting independently contracted practices which request assistance. We expect Health boards to work with practices as constructively and as flexibly as is appropriate to ensure that all patients have access to GP services. The Scottish Government is aware of concerns around recruitment issues in Lothian and elsewhere in Scotland, these will be taken into account as the 2017 GMS contract negotiations go forward.

In 2017-18 we will invest £72 million in the Primary Care Fund to improve primary care and GP services. As part of this, £5 million will be invested in work to explore with key stakeholders the issues surrounding GP recruitment and retention. This is the first step to increase spending on Community Health Services by £500 million by 2021-22 so that it is at least £1,283 million. This commitment will mean that by 2021-22, for the first time, more than half of the NHS frontline spending will be in our Community Health Service.

This information is not routinely collected.

Hepatitis C test data is only held centrally for prisons within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Grampian, Lothian and Tayside board areas.

In the calendar year 2015 2,396 prisoners in these Board areas were tested for Hepatitis C. In the same year 137 individuals were diagnosed with Hepatitis C in a prison in those areas. Data for 2016 is not yet available.

It is not possible to accurately identify all staff defined as ‘cancer specialists’ – either wholly or as part of their role – from centrally held data due to the multi-disciplinary roles involved in the delivery of cancer services. NHSScotland Boards are expected to ensure that patients with specialist conditions have appropriate access to a range of professionals to enable optimum management of their condition.

Last year we published our five-year £100 million Cancer Strategy which sets out how we will improve patients’ access to cancer diagnosis and treatment. We have also committed to invest an extra £2.5 million of recurring funding in specialist nursing and care from 2015-16 onwards.

Further information on the NHSScotland workforce, including those staff involved in the delivery of cancer services, is published by ISD Scotland and is available at the following link:- http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/data-tables2017.asp?id=1870#1870