SAMH comment on Scottish Budget

19th December 2023

Today (Tuesday 19th of December 2023), the Scottish Government published the Scottish Budget for 2024-25. In response, Billy Watson, Chief Executive of SAMH said:

“A couple of weeks ago, the Scottish Health Survey showed that Scotland’s mental health is in a bad way and, on several measures, the worst ever recorded. Today’s Scottish budget was an opportunity to recognise that and work towards meeting the Scottish Government’s own spending commitments.

“Instead, the mental health services budget faces a real-terms cut, frozen in cash terms. Audit Scotland’s recent report on adult mental health warned that the Scottish Government is off-track on mental health spending, and today’s budget does nothing to allay that concern.

“We will engage with the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament over the coming weeks and months to further scrutinise these proposals and make the case for Scotland’s mental health to be prioritised.”