The Scottish Government

Funding for Mental Health Services

By 2007-08 over £10 billion will be spent per year on health in Scotland, and spend on mental health services by NHS Boards and Local Authorities will be drawn from this planned year-on-year increase,. The Grant Aided Expenditure(GAE) to local authorities for social work will also have increased, to £2.085 billion. The Scottish Executive does not provide NHS Boards or local authorities with a separate budget specifically for mental health services.

Health spending overall is set to increase on average by £741m a year from 2005-06 to 2007-08 when spending will be almost £10.3 billion.

• Local authority allocations on mental health are included within overall GAE Social Work which has increased by 10%, from £1.893 billion in 2005-06 to £2.085 billion in 2007-08.
• The latest information on actual spend from the agencies shows NHS Boards and local authorities spent £625.2m (excluding Resource Transfer) and £72.8m (including Resource Transfer) respectively in 2004-05 (£697m total).

Spend is not the only indicator or route to better mental health services. Better work practices, better joint working and better and improved access to care all have their place.

Mental Health Act - Implementation and Delivery

There was an additional investment of £41.485m between 2003-06 to help NHS Boards and local authorities implement and deliver the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 with a further £5m to be made available through NHS Boards in both 2006-07 and 2007-08.

Partnership Resources

Together with the record resources available to NHS Boards £10.785m of additional funding has been allocated between 2003-04 and 2005-06 and a further £10m will be available between 2006-07 and 2007-08 to help deliver the provisions of the new Mental Health Act as follows:

The additional resources available since 2003-04 are allocated through NHS Boards but it is open to local and regional partners to discuss and agree how this should be spent according to local needs and circumstances.

Local Authority Resources

Together with the record resources available to local authorities, additional provision within local authority Grant Aided Expenditure for implementing the new Mental Health Act was announced as part of the 2003-06 Local Government Finance Community Care Settlement on 16 January 2003. This confirmed £26.7m revenue and £4m capital funding for local authorities to 2006 as follows:

It is for each local authority, in consultation with their partners, to determine how best to use the resources available to them, according to local needs and circumstances.