Meeting of the Parliament 28 May 2025
I thank the member for Edinburgh Western for allocating one of his party’s official Opposition day debates to a motion about the inadequate provision for neurodevelopmental conditions in Scotland. I know that our constituents’ access to mental health services is an issue that is close to the heart of many members across the chamber and is one that is reflected in our casework.
It is a matter of fact that this Government has overseen a decline in mental health service quality across the country—and, given the amendment that it has lodged, it seems that it is unwilling to address and remedy that.
We are rightly concerned about the state of mental health services. Even though the Covid pandemic devastated Scotland’s already overstretched mental health services, we find ourselves in a position in which funding is still not being allocated properly to realise best value, waiting lists keep growing, private diagnoses are increasing unnecessarily and service after service is cut across Scotland, with the buck passed to local authorities and ministers washing their hands of the situation.
We need to recognise that we did not build back better. Indeed, it has just been crisis followed by crisis, leading to more broken lives and distressed families across Scotland. A point that we often forget when we talk about funding and percentages is what the Scottish Government’s goal of spending 10 per cent of NHS funding on mental health services and 1 per cent of its funding on CAMHS is supposed to mean. That is not meant to be just an abstract numerical target. It is supposed to mean security of funding for mental health practitioners; the end of waiting times that are measured in months and years rather than weeks; and a Scotland where support is available for those who need it, not just those who can afford private healthcare, where children’s mental health is a priority, not an afterthought, and where getting it right for every child is the reality.
Let us remember that real people are affected by the Government’s failure. We know that people with ADHD are five times more likely to attempt suicide and that self-harm is higher in those with ADHD and emotional dysregulation. Every delay in diagnosis and every failure to intervene early is a decision that might lead to far worse outcomes for the individual who is involved. There is a price to be paid for this Government’s failure, and that price falls on the heads of those who are most unable to pay it. That is why the Labour Party is happy to support the motion, which our amendment seeks to strengthen by calling on the Government
“to publish data on the number of patients with neurodevelopmental conditions who are being removed from CAMHS waiting lists.”
We know there is a real danger that children and adolescents are falling through the gaps and that the current data collection is not able to accurately capture the situation. We therefore need to see a step change in how the Scottish Government collects its data so that the statistics reflect the experience on the ground and are not just a contrived mathematical construct that allows ministers to say, “Job well done,” and ignore the unacceptable reality that is faced by our constituents and is reflected in our casework.
We know that the Government is failing adolescents and children across Scotland. We see that in our inboxes. In Glasgow, we have seen waiting times increase, vital services such as the Notre Dame Centre for children being shut, and more and more responsibilities being placed on the shoulders of teachers and school counsellors to fill the gaps that have been left by funding shortfalls and by a more general deprioritisation of mental health, which we have seen through the cuts to the integration joint boards and health and social care partnerships. That is simply not good enough, and it is not good enough for ministers to shirk responsibility for the consequences of these funding cuts and place it a local authority level.
It is right that the Parliament recognises the mental health crisis that is presided over by the Government and calls for urgent action by that Government to take place quickly. We are happy to support the motion, and I hope that all members will join Labour in supporting our amendment to call for better data collection for those who are removed from CAMHS waiting lists.
I move amendment S6M-17670.1, to insert at end:
“, and calls on the Scottish Government to publish data on the number of patients with neurodevelopmental conditions who are being removed from CAMHS waiting lists.”
16:20Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.