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Specialist investigations, such as skin testing and the investigation of specialist antibodies and immune cell function are carried out at consultant-led immunology and allergy services in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow which also take referrals from across Scotland.

This information is not held centrally.

Information from across NHS boards indicates that food allergies and intolerances are dealt with by many specialists including consultant dermatologists, immunologists, psychiatrists, gastroenterologists, dieticians, paediatricians with special interests and general practitioners with special interests. In addition there are also nurse specialists in place.

Information on the costs of health services treating specific conditions or diseases is not available centrally. Information on the costs of delivering other services such as social care or housing is not held centrally.

People with autism spectrum disorder are most likely to be diagnosed in an out-patient clinic and managed in the community or general practice. Diagnostic information for patients attending out-patient clinics is not available centrally.

Estimated prevalence figures are detailed in the recent guidance for commissioners of services for people with autism spectrum disorder, published by the Scottish Government at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/03/27085247/0.

These figures are based on the prevalence rate of 0.9% from the Office of National Statistics survey of the mental health of children and young people in Britain (Green et al, 2005).

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-12379 on 13 May 2008. 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/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish Government has not estimated the average lifetime cost of delivering services to any particular client group, including autism spectrum disorder. UK research has estimated that the lifetime cost to society for someone with autism to be between £2.9 million for someone with high-functioning autism and £4.7 million for someone with low-functioning autism. These costs are not limited to the delivery of services funded by the state.

All regulated services, including those delivered to people on the autistic spectrum are monitored and inspected by regulatory bodies such as the Care Commission, the Social Work Inspection Agency, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland and Her Majesty''s Inspectorate of Education.

On 2 April 2008, the Scottish Government issued policy and practice guidance on commissioning services for people on the autism spectrum. This marked completion of the work of the Autism Spectrum Disorder Reference (ASD) Group which took forward the recommendations of The Public Health Institute of Scotland''s ASD Health Needs Assessment Report of 2001.

The guidance sets out a number of actions for local agencies, including identifying and providing appropriate services and supports for people with ASD. It also provides information about models of support and nationally funded developments that improve outcomes for people with ASD.

I am aware that some higher education institutions do admit students with advanced highers into the second year of certain degree courses. Information on the particular institutions and courses is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Given that the procedure for admitting students to any particular course is a matter for the individual institution to determine, the member may wish to approach Universities Scotland to see whether they can provide this information on behalf of their members.