Scottish Government Prevention Unit Plan

Work Programme

The Prevention Unit has an established programme of work to deliver on the objectives set and has already made significant progress. This includes delivery against committed work through the Public Service Reform Strategy, as well as other developmental work to develop the tools and networks to raise the visibility of prevention and embed it across the public sector.

Objective 1 - Delivering on prevention in public service reform

The Prevention Unit is responsible for delivery of the Prevention Pillar, which includes two workstreams – Mitigating Drivers of Demand (Workstream 5) and Preventative Budgeting (Workstream 6). Significant progress has been against both PSR Prevention Pillar Workstreams, with plans to go further in the second half of 2026. [OG1] Progress on this is set out in Figure 2, with further detail set out in Annex A.

A key priority for the Prevention Unit will be leading the development of a Scottish Prevention Investment Framework, a commitment set out in the Programme for Government 2026 - 2031. Working with partners across the public, third, academic and philanthropic sectors, the Unit will co-produce a framework to support a more strategic and coordinated approach to preventative investment (Box 1).

Box 1 – Scottish Prevention Investment Framework

The Scottish Prevention Investment Framework will provide a Scotland-wide approach to strengthening investment in prevention and early intervention.

The Framework will establish an end-to-end approach to prevention investment, connecting funding, evidence, investment decisions, outcomes and learning within a single system. Building on Scotland's preventative budgeting work, it will support decision-makers to maximise the impact of existing preventative expenditure while enabling a greater shift towards upstream investment.

Underpinning the Framework will be a suite of tools, evidence and support mechanisms designed to strengthen prevention-focused decision-making. This is expected to include preventative budgeting, avoided-cost modelling, proposition development support, and monitoring of outcomes and demand. Together, these elements will help illustrate the tangible long-term benefits of prevention and provide a stronger evidence base for investment decisions.

Beyond the technical infrastructure, the Framework will support a more strategic and coordinated approach to preventative investment, helping partners identify shared priorities, align resources, develop joint funding arrangements and channel investment towards interventions with the greatest potential to improve outcomes and reduce future demand.

The Framework will also help build the wider conditions for implementing prevention by strengthening leadership, analytical capability and collaborative working across sectors. In doing so, it aims to embed prevention more fully within routine planning, budgeting and investment processes across Scotland.

Objective 2 - Connecting prevention across government

The Prevention Unit recognises that delivering a shift towards prevention requires action across many organisations and policy areas. As a central resource, the Unit will help connect prevention activity across the Scottish Government, promote collaboration around shared priorities, and support the sharing of evidence, learning and good practice.

The Unit will also build relationships with key external partners, including research institutions, public bodies and third sector organisations, to strengthen the evidence base for prevention and ensure emerging insights are reflected in policy and delivery.

To facilitate this, the Unit published a set of Areas of Shared Interest[OG2] [LB3] (Figure 3). These areas reflect topics of strategic relevance to prevention where partners have a common interest in strengthening the evidence base, understanding what works, and supporting implementation. The Unit's role will be to connect and share insight across these themes, helping to inform policy development and identify opportunities for collaboration and collective action.

Figure 3 – Prevention Unit Areas of Shared Interest: Plain text version

Connecting Embedding and Delivering Prevention

At the centre of the figure is the Area of Shared Interest Preventable Outcomes and Demand, surrounded by five other Areas of Shared Interest:

1. Investing in Prevention
2. Person-Centred Services
3. Prevention Through Community
4. Prevention Over the Life Course
5. Working Across Silos (Public, Private and Third Sector)

While all of the Areas of Shared Interest are relevant to the Prevention Unit's wider mission, the Unit's role will vary across themes. In some areas, the Unit will have a direct leadership role, including intensive and longer term work on preventative investment or the drivers of preventable demand and poor outcomes. The Unit will also look to do shorter targeted pieces of work over time on key areas. For example, the Unit is developing a work programme on prevention through community. In other areas, the Unit's role will be to connect and coordinate activity, working with policy teams, delivery partners, researchers and practitioners to share learning, identify opportunities for collaboration, and strengthen links between related programmes of work.

These Areas of Shared Interest also provide themes that the Unit will seek to reflect in its broader work. For example, insights from these themes will help inform the development of the Scottish Prevention Investment Framework and other initiatives designed to support a more preventative approach across Scotland.

Box 2 – Prevention Unit Targeted Work: Prevention Through Communities

One example of targeted work that the Prevention Unit will take forward is “prevention through community”.

This reflects growing recognition that many of the factors that improve wellbeing, build resilience and reduce future demand for public services are rooted in communities, relationships and the places where people live. Alongside public services, community organisations, informal networks and local assets can play a vital role in preventing poor outcomes, reducing isolation and supporting people to access help early.

Through this work, the Prevention Unit will collaborate with partners across sectors to strengthen understanding of the contribution that community-led approaches can make to prevention. This will include building the evidence base, identifying promising practice, and exploring how community prevention can be better reflected in policy, investment and service design.

Going forward into the rest of 2026, the Prevention Unit will:

• Promote and develop the Areas of Shared Interest, engaging colleagues across Scottish Government and external partners to strengthen the evidence base, share learning and generate insights to inform policy and practice.
• Deliver targeted work in selected areas, including the development of the Scottish Prevention Investment Framework and thematic work on priorities such as and prevention through community.
• Incorporate learning from the Areas of Shared Interest informs strategy, policy development and delivery. This will include exploring how these themes can be incorporated into preventative budgeting approaches, investment decisions, and national and local reform activity

Objective 3 - Building capacity for prevention

Prevention is everyone's business. While there is growing recognition across Scotland of the importance of prevention and early intervention, preventative approaches are not yet consistently embedded across policy, service delivery and investment decisions. Many organisations and practitioners are seeking to adopt a more preventative approach but may lack the tools, evidence, skills or support needed to do so effectively.

Delivering a sustained shift towards prevention will require continued investment in the capabilities, leadership, culture and practical resources that enable prevention to become a routine part of decision-making across the public sector.

Since its establishment, the Prevention Unit has already taken significant steps to support this shift. This includes:

• Publishing the first Prevention Toolkit, bringing together existing tools, frameworks and resources that can support policymakers, analysts and practitioners to incorporate prevention into their work.
• Supporting wider adoption of the Preventative Budgeting Tool across the public sector, including its use by nine Health Boards and nine local authorities to identify and understand preventative expenditure.
• Embedding prevention within key strategic processes, by supporting prevention through the Scottish Budget, Programme for Government and sectoral specific strategies.

The Prevention Unit will seek to further support embedding of prevention across policy, service delivery and investment decisions. Through the remainder of 2026, the Unit will focus on:

• Publish further reports - including work on preventative budgeting and mitigating key drivers of demand for public services. This programme will continue into 2027, with planned outputs on the Scottish Prevention Investment Framework, and thematic work on priority Areas of Shared Interest, including prevention through community.
• Supporting the development of key strategies and policy initiatives - ensuring prevention is reflected in major decision-making processes, including the Scottish Budget, Programme for Government and wider reform activity.
• Exploring opportunities to strengthen learning, capability and leadership for prevention across the public sector - supporting greater understanding of prevention across the public sector and building the skills, knowledge and leadership needed to drive preventative approaches in practice. This includes plans to develop further the Prevention Toolkit and build the use cases for these tools.