Bad Timing On Mental Health
Yousaf reveals he suffered 'state of breakdown' while junior ministerhttps://t.co/4200jYLXKZ
— The Herald (@heraldscotland) February 5, 2024
Humza Yousaf speaks about having a nervous breakdown while acting as transport minister and about the importance of people looking after their mental health.
But the timing could not be worse as SNP ministers sneak out plans to cut £30 million from the mental health budget.
Scottish Government confirm £30m cut to mental health funding
By Andrew Learmonth - The Herald
Shona Robison (Image: PA)
The Scottish Government has confirmed a nearly £30 million cut to mental health services, as desperate ministers seek to find savings ahead of next week's budget.
News of the drop in funding was announced in the annexe of a letter to the Finance and Public Administration Committee by Shona Robison, the Finance Secretary and Deputy First Minister.
Last month, she told MSPs she would need to take “exceptionally difficult decisions" to find £680m in savings in the current financial year.
However, at that point, she did not mention any change to the mental health budget.
The Scottish Lib Dems accused her of sneaking the news out.
According to the letter, savings of £22.4m 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.
A further £7.5m will be pulled from the Mental Health Transformation Programme.
In an equality and fairness review of the cuts, the Scottish Government admitted the changes to mental health funding could impact the vulnerable.
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.
SNP mental wellbeing minister Maree Todd told The Scotsman "difficult decisions" had had to be made to "balance the budget."
She 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.”
