Pre-budget scrutiny 2026-27, with a focus on mental health spending

Overview

The Health, Social Care and Sport Committee is seeking views as part of its pre-budget scrutiny 2026-27. Its scrutiny this year is focused on the mental health budget.

The Committee would like to explore current levels of spending on mental health services and how this is allocated across different interventions. The Committee would also like to explore how decisions on spending allocations are made. Your responses to the following questions will help in informing the Committee’s scrutiny and your input is much appreciated.

About this call for views

The intention of pre-budget scrutiny, which takes place in advance of the publication of the Scottish Budget, is that committees will use pre-budget reports to influence the formulation of spending proposals while they are still in development. The Scottish Budget would normally be expected to be published in December, although timings have yet to be confirmed.

Who we would like to hear from

We welcome responses from a wide range of individuals and organisations, including:

Members of the public
Advocacy groups
Professional bodies
Industry experts
Academic institutions
Government agencies
Any other stakeholders with an interest in mental health policy and funding

How to contribute

The Committee would like to hear your views on the following topics and questions in the box below. You do not need to answer all the questions.

Questions in this call for views Questions in this call for views

Current mental health spending

In 2023-24, spending on mental health services totalled £1.5 billion, equivalent to 9% of total NHS expenditure.

1. Is the level of spending on mental health services appropriate?

2. What information can help support assessment and evaluation of the allocation of the mental health budget?

Preventative spend on mental health

The Committee is interested in preventative spend. Public Health Scotland has set out a classification of preventative activities, describing activities as primary, secondary and tertiary prevention.

3. Do you consider there to be evidence of preventative spending activities in relation to mental health (and if so, can you provide examples)?

Priorities for mental health spending

The Scottish Government has set out its priorities for mental health services in its Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. This strategy identifies the following priorities for investment:

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and psychological therapies
Addressing waiting times backlogs
An extension of support for distress
Ongoing implementation of the Scottish Government’s Suicide Prevention Strategy
Delivering improved community-based mental health and wellbeing support for children, young people and adults

4. Do you consider these to be the right priorities for mental health investment?

5. To what extent are these priorities reflected in mental health service delivery?

Decisions on mental health spending

6. How could transparency in relation to decisions around mental health spending in Scotland be improved?

Analysis

The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) will prepare a summary and analysis of responses.

If we receive a very high volume of submissions, this may need to be prepared based on a sample of submissions.

Confidentiality and publication of responses

Please let us know if you wish your response to remain confidential. You can also ask for your submission to be anonymised.

We aim to publish all the submissions we receive. The only exceptions are where submissions are made on a “confidential” or “not for publication” basis.

If we receive a very high volume of submissions, we may not have the resources to process and publish them all.

How to submit your views

Please submit your views using the online submission form, linked to below.

We welcome written views in English, Gaelic, Scots or any other language.

The call for views closes on 15 August 2025.

Submit your views

Click here to complete the submission form

Interests

HSCS

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