Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund information: FOI release

Information requested

1. The total staff time spent drafting, developing, and consulting on Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund along with either the actual cost of that staff time or, where actual costs are not recorded, an estimation of the cost based on the relevant salary grades.

2. The total amount of any external costs incurred in producing Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund (e.g. consultants, communications, design or printing).

3. The full cost of implementation of the measures outlined in the programme (grants provided etc)

Response

Staff time

The Scottish Government does not hold a record of the amount of time spent by its staff drafting, developing, and consulting on the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults ("the Fund"). Two members of staff (B2 and B3) support the Fund as part of a wider portfolio of responsibilities relating to mental health and wellbeing. Information on Scottish Government staff pay ranges was published in response to a Freedom of Information request earlier this year and is available here.

The Fund is managed at a local level by Third Sector Interface bodies.

External costs

Since its inception in 2021, the total level of external costs relating to the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund is £65,054.85. This covers the publication costs of the annual reports and year 2 impact report, the lists of funded projects as well as cost of the external evaluation of year 1 and its publication. There are no consultancy costs.

Implementation costs

Section 25 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) exempts information from disclosure where the requester can reasonably obtain the information without asking for it under FOISA. Information on the overall cost of implementing the programme, including grant funding awarded up to Year 5 of the Fund is available within the published reports on the Scottish Government website.

Wellbeing and prevention - Mental health - gov.scot. For ease of reference, information relating to Year 5 (2025-26) can be found in Annex A.

Annex A

Year 5 (2025-26)

Region	Main Grant Allocation (including additional £3m)	Administration and Capacity Building Grant*
Aberdeen City	£665,247.48	£27,287.12
Aberdeenshire	£782,008.98	£30,775.13
Angus	£385,005.73	£15,510.12
Argyll & Bute	£342,918.68	£13,387.37
Clackmannanshire	£163,286.82	£7,000.00
Dumfries and Galloway	£532,303.80	£21,394.07
Dundee City	£504,846.06	£20,185.93
East Ayrshire	£425,387.99	£17,459.59
East Dunbartonshire	£334,776.22	£13,256.74
East Lothian	£352,250.72	£13,646.12
East Renfrewshire	£286,080.83	£11,263.79
Edinburgh	£1,487,112.58	£61,318.06
Falkirk	£515,446.13	£20,708.60
Fife	£1,229,978.88	£50,105.48
Glasgow City	£2,109,896.96	£87,223.81
Highland	£858,676.14	£34,311.81
Inverclyde	£292,121.99	£11,267.70
Midlothian	£302,926.25	£11,772.76
Moray	£300,926.64	£12,389.89
North Ayrshire and Arran	£483,585.32	£19,728.47
North Lanarkshire	£1,151,487.34	£46,435.06
Orkney Islands	£87,939.34	£7,000.00
Perth and Kinross	£497,449.56	£20,135.50
Renfrewshire	£621,100.81	£24,480.72
Scottish Borders	£396,830.80	£15,474.57
Shetland Island	£85,833.58	£7,000.00
South Ayrshire	£400,953.66	£16,045.23
South Lanarkshire	£1,094,025.26	£43,222.92
Stirling	£306,828.76	£11,990.92
West Dunbartonshire	£322,199.74	£12,512.51
Western Isles	£116,552.58	£7,000.00
West Lothian	£564,014.89	£22,710.01
Total	£18,000,000.52	£734,000.00

*Awarded to Third Sector Interface bodies to manage all aspects of local decision-making and implementation, including building capacity of local grassroots groups to deliver.

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