To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet. (S6F-03447)

The Cabinet will meet shortly after the October recess.

Steven is a teenager who is waiting for a diagnosis for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and a range of other complex conditions. His initial consultation with child and adolescent mental health services was five years ago, but he is still waiting for treatment, and his family have no idea when he will reach the front of what must now be the longest queue in the national health service. They fear that he will face more of the most important years of his life—with schooling, relationships and exams—without the care pathway or the medication that he needs.

This is a national crisis. Across Scotland, the number of ADHD referrals has skyrocketed—in Glasgow, it is up by 1,000 per cent among adults—but resources have simply not kept pace with demand. Today is world mental health day, and we know that ADHD often presents alongside other conditions, including anxiety and depression. When we get to next year’s world mental health day, will Steven and others like him still be waiting for care?

First, I am sorry that Steven has waited as long as Mr Cole-Hamilton has narrated to me today. If he wishes to furnish me with information about the case, I will, of course, look into it and see what can be established.

What I will say to reassure Mr Cole-Hamilton is that there has been a 15 per cent increase in the number of people accessing CAMHS compared with pre-pandemic levels. In the financial year 2023-24, 18,366 patients started treatment with CAMHS and, in 2022-23, the highest number of people on record started treatment with CAMHS. One in two children and young people who are referred to CAMHS now start treatment within six weeks, which is a significant improvement on pre-pandemic levels.

I know that that is no comfort in addressing the particular circumstance that Mr Cole-Hamilton put to me, but I assure him that the Government has put resources into that area of activity. In 2022-23, the budget was increased from £98 million to £114.8 million—an increase of 17.2 per cent. I hope that that is an indication to Mr Cole-Hamilton of the seriousness with which the Government takes those issues and of its willingness to address them. We will, of course, commit to doing more, and we will consider the points that Mr Cole-Hamilton has put to me when we settle on our budget position for the next financial year. I hope that we will be able to make improvements on that question.