Chamber and committees

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) monitors the overall impact of the Supporting Healthy Choices voluntary framework at a population level. FSS undertakes a rolling programme of research and surveillance to monitor progress towards the Scottish Dietary Goals. This includes monitoring dietary intakes of foods and nutrients (fats, sugar, fibre and salt).

FSS tracks retail food and drink purchase in Scotland both into the home (supermarkets) and out of the home (cafes, restaurants etc.) using data from Kantar Worldpanel (KWP) and NPD Group respectively. KWP data allows progress on reformulation in relation to fats, sugar and salt to be monitored annually. This covers many food categories including sugar containing soft drinks, confectionery, savoury snacks, biscuits, cakes and pastries, including monitoring of price promotions for these categories.

Supporting Healthy Choices is reviewed annually to consider the number of signatories to the voluntary framework, the strength of those commitments, whether those commitments have been met and what future measures are in place.

The action set out in Supporting Healthy Choices to support healthier diets is challenging and multifaceted. We are currently only a year into this process and want to fully explore what progress we can make through a voluntary approach. If we do not see sufficient progress in due course then we will consider alternative approaches.

The Scottish Government uses independent evaluations alongside project specific monitoring arrangements to assess the impact of funded programmes of work. Food Standards Scotland (FSS) monitors overall impact on dietary intakes at a population level.

Around three quarters of the £10 million programme is allocated to four key programmes: The Healthyliving Award, Community Food and Health (Scotland) (both administered by NHS Health Scotland), the Healthy Living Programme and the Healthier Scotland Cooking Bus. Evaluations for all four programmes are publicly available and demonstrate how each is helping to tackle the nation’s poor diet, especially in deprived communities.

FSS undertakes a rolling programme of research and surveillance to monitor progress towards the Scottish Dietary Goals. This includes monitoring dietary intakes of foods (such as fruit and vegetables, oil-rich fish, confectionery, sugary drinks etc.) and nutrients (fats, sugar, fibre and salt). Progress is monitored annually predominantly to provide trends in dietary intakes including in relation to deprivation.

Since 2007, the Scottish Government has taken a range of actions to encourage the reformulation of food and drink products and support consumers to reduce their sugar intake.

Most recently, the Supporting Healthy Choices voluntary framework, published in June 2014, sets out the case for reformulation and the action we believe is necessary to reduce the amount of sugar, as well as calories, fats and salt, in food and drink products. This includes reformulation of products, reducing portion sizes and the development of healthier recipes. Soft drinks with added sugar and confectionery are highlighted as key targets for reformulation.

The introduction of front of pack labelling has also given consumers access to clear, easy to understand nutritional information at a glance to help them make healthier choices. On 2 November 2015, Food Standards Scotland launched their ‘Look at the Label’ campaign to help increase consumer use and awareness of food labels and help them choose healthier products.

The number of retained fire fighters in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service from 2010 to 2014 can be found in the Scottish Government statistical report: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0047/00471950.pdf which was published on 24 February 2015.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is currently conducting an on-going national recruitment exercise which began in March 2015 and to date more than 50 trainees have now attended training courses.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-26482 on 28 July 2015. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2?MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx.

Through the advisory group set up to support commitment 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2012-2015, NHS Health Scotland is working to increase local knowledge of social prescribing opportunities. NHS Health Scotland has developed a paper offering advice to local area partnerships based on evidence and current practice on how to establish approaches to social prescribing for common mental health problems, including depression, as well as anxiety and stress. In addition a review of the evidence around what interventions work most effectively to improve mental health outcomes, a paper on how best to build capacity for social prescribing across services, equality guidance to ensure the approaches are inclusive to those most marginalised and least able to attend and case studies of practice showing social prescribing within a range of sectors and services will shortly be published on the Well Scotland website (http://www.wellscotland.info/) to further support the provision of social prescribing across a range of mental health conditions.

However it remains that the provision of any treatment is a clinical decision and there is good evidence that GPs assess and treat depression appropriately. While we ensure those who need medication continue to receive it, we are also committed to improving access to psychological therapies that increase choice and best accommodate patient preference.

The number of fire fighters in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service from 2010 to 2014 can be found in the Scottish Government statistical report: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0047/00471950.pdf which was published on 24 February 2015.

This information is not held centrally.

The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) Act (Scotland) 2007 places a number of duties on local education authorities including ensuring that schools are health promoting. This includes promoting physical, social, mental and emotional wellbeing by supporting pupils to make positive lifestyle choices in relation to their health and wellbeing.

All adults who work in schools have a responsibility to support and develop mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing. It is for the local authority and schools to decide how to develop their own approaches to implement Curriculum for Excellence, based on local needs and circumstances. Whilst an authority may wish to provide access to school based counselling in their schools, in other areas, schools utilise the skills of their pastoral care or guidance staff and liaise with health services for specialist support when required.

Every school has a named contact in specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service services who can be contacted for advice if they have any concerns about a pupil and can provide ongoing support.

The Scottish Government sets national direction of policy on mental health and provides funding to agencies, including NHS boards and local authorities, to support implementation of policy.

The management of local actions in implementing national policy, and decisions on local spending priorities are the responsibility of relevant local agencies. It is therefore the responsibility of NHS boards and local authorities to work with their partners and regularly review spending decisions to deliver fit for purpose services which respond to local needs.

Funding on mental health promotion, early intervention and appropriate treatment for people with mental health problems, including postnatal depression, will continue to be drawn from the overall funds allocated to NHS Scotland and local authorities by the Scottish Government.

We are investing an additional £100 million in mental health over the next five years to further improve mental health services and we are currently working with our partners to ensure that we get maximum benefit from that investment.

High quality, relationship based antenatal care with a strong focus on prevention, promotion of health, early intervention and support as early as possible in pregnancy is vitally important. In this respect, GPs, midwives, health visitors and obstetricians are trained in perinatal mental health education and deliver services and support to individuals according to their assessed needs and in line with clinical guidelines such as SIGN guideline 127 on the Management of Perinatal Mood Disorders.

For example, at booking appointments, midwives will ask women if they have any concerns regarding their mental health, or any previous history and this is documented in the Scottish Women-Held Maternity Record. Where any concerns are raised, we expect NHS boards to have the appropriate pathways in place to be able to support women and refer them onwards to the appropriate mental health service or specialist.

In September, NHS Education for Scotland launched a national resource – an on-line module in relation to perinatal mental health which will have open access for staff in any sector. This is in addition to any local education for staff that is offered.

The Scottish Government has also developed an antenatal access target that at least 80% of pregnant women in each Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation quintile will have booked for antenatal care by the twelfth week of gestation by March 2015, which has been in place since April 2012.