To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to reduce waiting times for children and adolescents for the diagnosis of autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. (S6F-03944)

Long waits for support are unacceptable, which is why we are working closely with health boards and local authorities to ensure that they are tackled. As part of that work, we have allocated £123 million to health boards this year to support improvements across a range of mental health services, including neurodevelopmental services.

As I am sure the First Minister will be aware, last week NHS Tayside announced that it would no longer accept referrals for diagnosis of autism and ADHD in children or adolescents unless they have other mental health conditions—a decision that the National Autistic Society has described as “beyond comprehension”. Elsewhere in Scotland, we see similar issues with long waiting times of five years or more arising from a severe shortage of qualified professionals and, therefore, an inability for health services to meet the rising level of demand. What action is the Scottish Government taking to address the concern of many young people and their parents that they will not now be able to access the help that they desperately need?

I have considerable sympathy with the points that Mr Fraser has made. I am very concerned by the manner in which the proposals that have been set out by NHS Tayside have been communicated, because they are likely to have caused alarm. Indeed, as the member of the Scottish Parliament for Perthshire North, I have seen evidence of that in my inbox. I accept that the proposals have not been well communicated.

What NHS Tayside is trying to do is recognise that early intervention support can be available in the community to assist young people who present with mental wellbeing challenges. If we provide such early intervention, that will eventually reduce pressure on child and adolescent mental health services, so that they can focus support on those children who have a more acute clinical requirement for such support. That is what is proposed, but I do not think that that has been particularly well communicated to members of the public.

I give Mr Fraser an assurance that the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care is working very closely with NHS Tayside and other boards to ensure that the model that I have just explained to Parliament is the one that people feel and experience, because that model has the potential to better meet the needs of young people in Scotland.

By way of reassurance, I say to Mr Fraser and to Parliament that, for the first time ever, national performance has met the 18-week CAMHS standard, with 90.6 per cent of children and young people starting treatment within 18 weeks of referral. That progress has been made because, in the past decade, we have increased CAMHS staffing levels by 63 per cent.

However, if we are truly to meet the challenges with mental wellbeing that young people are experiencing today, which I think have been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and other factors in our society, we must put in place the early intervention services that were somewhat missing from the NHS Tayside announcement.

This is a difficult day for us all, and I send my heartfelt condolences to our dear friend and colleague Keith Brown MSP and to Christina’s family.

I have a constituent whose daughter is awaiting an ADHD assessment. She sees a counsellor once a week in school while she awaits an appointment with a neurodevelopmental service. The service has said that it wants to wait until she is in primary 7 before seeing her, but, even then, there is still a 26-month waiting list. That is unacceptable. What support can be given to the health services in my Greenock and Inverclyde constituency to help to reduce those waiting times?

I will not repeat all the details that I gave in my earlier answer to Mr Fraser, but I acknowledge the seriousness of the point that Mr McMillan has put to me on behalf of his constituent.

The Government’s budget includes substantial new investment in health boards. In my earlier answer, I indicated that we are making progress on the achievement of the CAMHS performance standard. The combination of early intervention and enabling the service to focus on those children with the most acute needs will help us to address the substance of the point that Mr McMillan has put to me. I would be happy for the health secretary to address the specific points that he has raised on behalf of his constituent.

I add my condolences to the family and friends of our colleague Christina McKelvie. She was a kind person and a cheerful and helpful minister who often went out of her way to assist colleagues in resolving many issues that they were dealing with in their constituencies.

Earlier this week, families and patients who attend the Notre Dame children’s centre in Glasgow were shocked by the announced closure of the centre, which provides invaluable treatment for children who have experienced trauma through abuse, neglect or bereavement. The centre’s closure is unacceptable, and it is linked directly to the proposal by the integration joint board in Glasgow to cut psychological trauma services by 22 per cent. Will the First Minister please give families and patients who are affected the reassurance that the Government will intervene in that case and will not allow such a devastating cut to mental health services to take place?

I am grateful to Mr Sweeney for his kind remarks about Christina McKelvie. He is absolutely right to say that she went out of her way to help members on all questions.

I am concerned to hear the news about the Notre Dame Centre. I have asked Government officials to liaise with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Glasgow City Council, which are the partners in the IJB, to address the concerns and to provide the reassurance that we all need to hear, that the demand on the services that would have been provided by Notre Dame is able to be met in the future, because it is vital that individuals who require those services are able to access them.