Meeting of the Parliament 30 March 2017
I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement.
I begin by expressing my concern, which I know is shared across the chamber, that the Scottish Government has allocated only 45 minutes for Parliament to question the Government on the new mental health strategy.
That said, there are a number of areas within the new 10-year strategy that I welcome and, indeed, that the Scottish Conservatives called for in our mental wellbeing policy statement, which we published at the beginning of December.
The key message from all stakeholders who will be tasked with delivery of the strategy over the next decade in communities across Scotland is this: all the words in the world in a Government strategy will not make the difference if they are not backed up by real reforms and resources.
The previous mental health strategy contained 36 actions. Given that no report card on how those were delivered was ever compiled, will the minister tell Parliament how many of them were achieved?
The new mental health strategy aims to transform services and treatments over the next decade for those who have mental health problems. Will the minister outline to Parliament how progress will be monitored? Will the minister chair an advisory group to drive the strategy’s implementation forward? Will she commit today to provide an annual progress report to Parliament?
When I was elected to Parliament, I said in my maiden speech that mental health was the most pressing issue that our country faces. I am sorry to say that today feels like a missed opportunity. I welcome the fact that the minister said, in the last part of her statement, that the strategy is not the end of the process but just the beginning, because that has to be the case, and I hope that she will consider listening to organisations in the coming weeks and months as we hear concerns about the strategy.