Robison reveals Government cuts of nearly £30m to mental health budget

Scotland’s mental health system has seen cuts of almost £30 million to this year’s budget.

In a letter to the Finance and Public Administration Committee, Shona Robison – who also serves as the country’s Finance Secretary – said she had been forced to make “tough decisions” on spending up until the end of the financial year.

This includes £391.4 million in resource savings and £288.9 million in capital.

Ms Robison had previously announced the need for about £680 million of savings last month, but did not mention any changes to mental health provision.

According to the letter, savings of £22.4 million will be made by “reprofiling of spend on various mental health programmes”, including the Mental Health Outcomes Framework, Forensic Mental Health Reform and Primary Care.

Meanwhile, a further £7.5 million will be pulled from the Mental Health Transformation Programme.

In an equality and fairness review of the cuts, the Government said changes to mental health funding could impact the vulnerable.

“The causes of health inequalities arise from the unequal distribution of income, wealth and power, which can impact on wider life chances and experiences,” it said.

“These conditions are commonly known as social determinants and include traumatic and adverse experiences such as poverty, discrimination, loneliness, unemployment, lack of adequate housing, and lack of social and cultural opportunities.

“Some of these groups will be affected by these savings.

“In addition, these same groups of people can also experience barriers to accessing support and services and, when they do access them, existing approaches can often be less effective and relevant for their mental health.

“This means their experiences and outcomes can be poorer. These inequalities in mental healthcare can exacerbate mental health inequalities.”

In her letter to the committee, the Deputy First Minister said the need for revisions had been caused by a mixture of public sector pay deals – which she said are likely to have recurring costs of £1.26 billion for the Scottish Government.

“In the absence of additional funding from the UK Government, I have no option but to make these tough choices.

“This is critical, to balance the Scottish Government budget, whilst working to ensure that our resources are focused on our three critical missions outlined in the policy prospectus.”

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “My party has spent years pressing the Government about the importance of putting mental health practitioners into surgeries in every corner of Scotland, cutting waiting lists and improving access to mental health support.

“After Humza Yousaf broke his personal commitment to clear mental health waiting lists in the spring, he and Michael Matheson will now have to explain to everyone why they have snuck out a £30 million cut to under-pressure mental health services.

“I cannot understand how SNP ministers can hear the stories of children and adults in mental torment and respond with more cuts.”

As well as cuts to mental health, the letter also showed a delay to improvements of ports for ferries, with an associated saving of £75 million.

Mental wellbeing minister Maree Todd said: “The financial pressures across health and social care are, by far, the most challenging since devolution because of high inflation, and the ongoing impact of Covid and Brexit.

“Difficult decisions have had to be made across Government to balance the budget and prioritise supporting services, and to make a record pay offer to our NHS staff to best support them through the cost-of-living crisis and to avoid industrial action.

“Between the Scottish Government and NHS boards, we expect spending on Mental Health to be well in excess of £1.3 billion in 2023-24.

“The revised direct mental health programme budget for 2023-24 is still more than double the 2020-21 budget.

“Most of the spending on local, mental health services is delivered through NHS board budgets – and this is not directly affected by the budget reprioritisation.”

The Scottish Tory deputy health spokeswoman, Tess White, accused the Scottish Government of announcing the cut in a “sleekit way”, adding: “Even prior to the pandemic they had failed to address the mental health crisis engulfing many across Scotland – particularly our young people – and those issues have only been exacerbated in recent years.

“Cuts of nearly £30 million will have a devastating impact on those who need urgent help and access to frontline services.”