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The specific information is not available centrally as outpatient waiting times information is collected at specialty level only. I understand that patients with suspected psoriatic arthritis are mostly likely to be referred to a dermatologist. The following tables provides information on the waiting time for a dermatology outpatient consultation for each year from June 1999 to June 2016.

It should be noted that due to data collection changes data has been provided from two different data collection systems and data from June 2009 is not directly comparable with earlier years median waits.

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Time For A First Outpatient Dermatology Consultation: June 1999 to June 2003

Source ISD: SMR(00)

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Time For A First Outpatient Dermatology Consultation: June 2004 to June 2008

Source ISD: SMR(00)

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Time For A First Outpatient Dermatology Consultation: June 2009 to June 2012

Source; ISD New Ways Data Warehouse

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Time For A First Outpatient Dermatology Consultation: June 2013 to June 2016

Source; ISD New Ways Data Warehouse

The Scottish Government provides policies, frameworks and resources to NHS Boards to allow them to deliver services that meet the needs of their local populations.

Within this context, the actual provision of healthcare services, including (a) a dedicated psoriatic arthritis integrated clinic and (b) the provision of mobile MRI and ultrasound scanners to treat people with psoriatic arthritis in Lothian region is a matter for Lothian Health Board, taking into account national guidance, local service needs and priorities for investment.

The treatment for psoriatic arthritis is prescribed and managed by the hospital service, information on this is not centrally held. The prescribed medication typically has multiple uses, as a result information on the number of people treated for psoriatic arthritis is not held separately.

I refer the member to the Scottish Government website where marketing spend for 2014-15 and 2015-16 was published on 1 November 2016. Please see the following links:

https://beta.gov.scot/publications/advertising-spend-2015-2016/

https://beta.gov.scot/publications/advertising-spend-2014-2015/

The Scottish Government’s award-winning marketing promotes Scotland around the world as a modern, creative and dynamic nation; and helps people in Scotland make informed choices, improve their opportunities and understand the positive role of public services in their lives.

Our marketing work is an integral part of our life-saving and improving campaigns. For example, our Detect Cancer Early campaign resulted in an 8% increase in early stage diagnosis of breast, lung and colorectal cancers from baseline and a 35.6% increase in proportion of lung cancers diagnosed at the earliest stage, alongside a 50% increase in women consulting their GP with breast symptoms and increased uptake of the national bowel screening programme.

However, we continue to pursue cost-effective means of public engagement, and have cut marketing costs by 12% in the last year.

Information collected by National Records of Scotland is set out in the following table.

Deaths where Alcoholic Liver Disease [1] was the underlying cause, Scotland, 1999 to 2015

[1] Deaths classified under the International Classification of Diseases. 1999 figures based on the 9^th revision (ICD-9) using codes 571.0 to 571.3. 2000 figures onwards based on 10^th revision (ICD-10) using code K70.

[2] Deaths registered during the calendar year.

Scottish Government analysts have been working with NHS Health Scotland on a review of evidence on social isolation and loneliness. This will help identify the adequacy of data collection in this area and will feed into our strategic approach to social isolation, which will be developed over 2017. We plan to consult with stakeholders in early 2017.

We will be considering any funding implications as part of the development and delivery of our strategic approach to social isolation. No decisions on funding for the Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund have been made beyond 2016-17.

The new Scottish Government cancer strategy Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action was published in March 2016 and is a blueprint for the future of cancer services in Scotland, improving the prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare of those affected by the disease.

£5 million investment has been allocated directly to NHS boards in 2016-17. This revenue is targeted to patient need, as determined at NHS board level, and is particularly focused on the breast, colorectal and urological cancer pathways. This will support immediate improvement in diagnostic, imaging and treatment capacity and ensure timely access that patients deserve.

Sativex is currently licensed to treat patients with moderate to severe spasticity due to Multiple Sclerosis. In Scotland, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) provides advice to NHS Scotland on the clinical and cost effectiveness of all new medicines. They do this following submissions made by the manufacturer. For Sativex, whilst the manufacturer does hold a product licence, they have not yet made a submission to the SMC to have Sativex considered for routine availability on the NHS in Scotland.

Following on from the Programme for Government, we committed in the Fairer Scotland Action Plan, to developing a new approach to social isolation over 2017. We intend that this will build on existing work, that it will draw on the findings of the previous Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Committee’s Inquiry into Social Isolation and Loneliness as well as the Befriending Networks Summit held in September 2016 and that it will be informed by the best available evidence and research. We will engage with partners and a wide range of interests in the development of our approach.