Chamber and committees

Perhaps Catriona Morton could come in.

It comes on automatically.

Martin, perhaps you might have some input here.

Auditor General, you have so far escaped a bit of questioning, so I have a couple of questions for you. As has been pointed out, in paragraph 7 you say that the number of people waiting for treatment has trebled over the past 12 months, yet at the same time the number of referrals to CAMHS has gone down by 17 per cent. How do you equate these figures?

Convener, I am conscious of time, so I will draw to a close.

I have a second question for you. In paragraph 13, you say, “Geography matters too.” How do you make that link when NHS Grampian has over a three-year period significantly increased its capacity, and even NHS Tayside has made some significant improvements from a low level? Those are a couple of NHS boards that have been on our naughty step in the past. How does that link? You seem to be implying, by saying that geography matters and so forth, that it is more difficult to be effective if you have a spread population, yet Grampian, and to a lesser extent Tayside, have spread populations.

My original question was about whether there is an unknown backlog of cases that are not yet evident.

I am the MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh constituency.

I have one thing that I want to add. Martin McKay quite rightly mentioned money, which is the lifeblood of any service. The Scottish Government has earmarked £40 million for improvements to CAMHS. What should those improvements be?

Alex Cumming, maybe you are the right person to ask first.

Donna, do you have anything to add?