Mental Health and Wellbeing Leadership Board: mental health and wellbeing delivery plan and workforce action plan

2. Indicative timeline and proposed sequencing of next steps

Taking account of ongoing capacity issues and wider reform the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport and COSLA have agreed to formally extend the lifespan of the current Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan, continuing our regular reporting on the progress of each action, and delaying publication of a refreshed Delivery Plan until early 2026.

An interim report on the current Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan, including next steps and indicative timings for the forthcoming refresh, will be published in mid-2025.

The indicative timeline for an early 2026 publication of a refreshed Delivery Plan is set out below.

• 30 April – Discussion at third Leadership Board meeting on proposed approach and sequencing
• 21 August – Fourth Leadership Board meeting to review and discuss first draft of proposed commitments
• August to November – Development of draft Delivery Plan
• 2 December – Fifth Leadership Board meeting to support final Delivery Plan
• Early January 2026 – Final editing and proofing
• Mid-Feb 2026 – Publication

At the Fourth Leadership Board meeting in August, we propose to share a first set of draft commitments with the Board for comment and discussion. This will give the Board the opportunity to see and comment on the range of draft actions for the Plan, and have a further opportunity to engage with their networks.

At the Fifth Leadership Board meeting in December, the intention is to share a final draft of the next Delivery Plan for the Board’s approval.

Between the August and December meetings, there will be ongoing focused engagement to further develop and refine the draft actions. This is likely to be a mixture of discussions between Board members and their networks, wider consultation with the Board by correspondence, and more focused engagement led by Scottish Government policy leads as needed.

We are open to suggestions from Board members as to how they would prefer to engage on the development of the Delivery Plan, and we will carefully consider those views as we progress through the drafting process.

The Board will have a central role in shaping the forthcoming Plan, and it will be crucial for success that we capitalise on the expertise and networks that Board members bring.

We think it will be important to frame the refresh of the Plans in the context of wider Health reform, and we have described our early thinking on this at section 4.