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Increasing participation in the Scottish Cervical Screening Programme is a key objective for the Scottish Government and we are continuing to carry out a range of work to encourage women to attend their screening appointments. This includes a series of national marketing campaigns – the most recent of which particularly targeted younger women, where we know uptake is lower.

We are also investing up to £5m of funding from the Cancer Strategy 'Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action' 2016 in our screening programmes, including cervical screening, to reduce inequalities and encourage participation, especially amongst those least likely to participate.

Scottish Government officials meet cervical screening coordinators from all NHS Boards on a quarterly basis to discuss a range of issues relating to the national screening programme, including promoting screening services and initiatives to improve uptake.

The Scottish Public Finance Manual provides guidance on accountability arrangements for the use of public resources, such as grant payments. It requires that certain conditions should be satisfied before grant funding is awarded, including the standing and relevant experience / expertise of the prospective recipient and any delivery partners.

The Manual sets out that; ‘Grant funding provided by the SG must be subject to the lead business area being satisfied as to the standing and relevant experience / expertise of the recipient and any delivery partners.’

Workers have the right to attend their work without fear of harassment, bullying or physical harm, and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect at all times. Therefore, we would also expect any recipients of Scottish Government funding or grants to have in place robust governance processes that protect individuals’ health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace.

We are fully committed to Fair Work and endorse the vision set by the Fair Work Convention for fair work to be embedded in all workplaces by 2025. To that end, we have committed to publishing a Fair Work Action Plan before the end of this year. Legislative powers of the labour market are reserved but the action plan will set out how we plan to use the levers we do have to deliver Fair Work in workplaces across Scotland.

We are investing up to £5 million from the Cancer Strategy to tackle inequalities in access to screening, including cervical screening. The funds will support new activities, sharing of learning from local practice and innovation, to improve uptake of screening programmes, particularly amongst those least likely to participate.

We are supporting the work of charities like Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust to increase awareness and address some of the barriers to participation. To enable the charity to expand their reach we are funding their innovative new outreach service targeting women less likely to attend. We also supported their first ever Scottish roadshow providing information and support about cervical screening and cervical cancer to high streets and retail parks across Scotland.

Officials continue to work closely with Cervical Screening Coordinators from all NHS Boards to develop local level initiatives to improve uptake for all women and to promote cervical screening services by communicating effectively with a range of audiences.

As responsibility for the police estate sits with the Scottish Police Authority, the Authority considered and agreed to the disposal of 49 unused Police Scotland properties at a public Board meeting on 2 May 2018.

The Scottish Government understands that 31 unused Police Scotland properties are currently being marketed for sale. Consideration of future plans for the Police Scotland estate are for the Scottish Police Authority.

Although this is a UK-wide report, we are aware that levels of self-harm are higher in girls than boys in Scotland and it is unacceptable that anyone should feel this way. We want anyone who may be at risk of self-harm to be able to get the help they need quickly – ask once, get help fast.

We are taking forward fundamental improvements to the whole system to achieve this, including establishing a Task Force chaired by Dr Dame Denise Coia, and the Youth Commission on Mental Health. The Youth Commissioners have also been invited to be co-chairs of the Task Force, ensuring young people’s voices are at the heart of these reforms.

All of this work together will help make a real and tangible difference to the support available to our young people, including those at risk of self-harm.

The Scottish Government has figures on people waiting for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and Psychological Therapies, but not on people who have paid for private mental health counselling.

For CAMHS in the last 3 years:

The Scottish Government does not collect data on the number of patients who have accessed private mental health counselling.

The Scottish Government is working with Rape Crisis Scotland to seek proposals from each rape crisis centre on how it can best reduce waiting times by utilising additional resources. The outcome of decisions on how to allocate the additional funding will be made public.

The Scottish Government will discuss further with stakeholders how this funding may be allocated, and further details will be provided on this in due course.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5O-02319 on 6 September 2018. The answer to the oral parliamentary question is available on the parliaments website, the Official Report can be viewed at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=11643&i=105514 .