Hard to determine whether mental health spending is effective, say MSPs

A lack of transparency is blocking attempts to determine whether the Scottish Government’s spending on mental health is effective, a Holyrood committee has warned.

The Health, Social Care and Sport Committee said it was disappointed by the lack of transparency around data gathering and analysis into the Government’s mental health budget.

Spending on mental health in Scotland has risen in recent years and now stands at around £1.5 billion a year.

As part of its pre-budget scrutiny, the committee said there was general support for the priorities set out in the Government’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and accompanying delivery plan.

But MSPs expressed regret that it still remains “very difficult to identify links between those priorities and how mental health budgets are spent”.

The committee called on the Government to provide additional data to show how and to what extent mental health budgets can be linked back to the priorities identified.

MSPs are also seeking data on the actual spend on mental health services to allow for better evaluation and to help inform spending decisions.

They said the current mental health landscape is complicated, particularly as a result of the integration of health and social care.

The committee urged the Government to do more to provide detailed analysis of current spending to inform current and future policy.

It also made a warning about the “negative impact” of a lack of medium and long-term certainty around budgets, with MSPs seeking reassurance from the Government that the spending review will provide some long-term certainty for services and the third sector.

Clare Haughey, the SNP MSP who convenes the committee, said: “Our pre-budget scrutiny this year has been focused on the Scottish Government’s spending on mental health, but what we have found is that issues of transparency, data availability and analysis has limited our ability to effectively scrutinise policy and funding.

“More importantly, this limits the Government’s ability to understand the effectiveness of funding for mental health services and where spending could be better targeted to improve outcomes.

“We’re calling for more transparency, and better data and analysis to improve evaluation and to better inform spending priorities.

“Better data capture and analysis could also help inform preventative approaches to mental health funding and highlight areas where ring-fenced funding could be effective.

“We look forward to the Scottish Government responding to our report.”

The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.