Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults: year 2 - monitoring and reporting summary

Introduction

1. Purpose

This report summarises the monitoring and reporting data for Year 2 of the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults (the Fund).

This summary outlines a national-level analysis of local monitoring and reporting data for Year 2 provided by the Third Sector Interfaces (TSIs) in their capacity as the lead partner for the delivery of the Fund. The analysis has been undertaken by the Mental Health Analytical Team and Communities Team within the Wellbeing and Prevention Unit of Scottish Government.

2. Fund delivery

• The Fund is being delivered through a locally focused and co-ordinated approach via Local Partnership Groups working together and building upon existing partnerships to ensure that support to ensure that support to community based organisations is directed appropriately and in a coherent way.
• Each TSI has overall accountability for the spend at local level and for working in collaboration with Integration Authorities and other existing local partnerships; leads in the coordination of the local plan and undertakes fund administration, capacity building support and local monitoring and evaluation.
• Local application processes were developed by local partnership groups and were accessible through local TSIs and were shared nationally at Communities Mental Health & Wellbeing Fund - TSI Scotland Network and through a wide range of networks. All local application processes for Year 2 of the Fund had commenced no later than October 2022.
• National Fund guidance was shared with TSIs, which in keeping with local needs and strategies and the national aims of the Fund, provided local flexibility about the approach to distributing the Fund to grassroots community groups and organisations locally.
• Funding was distributed through grants to the 31 Third Sector Interfaces (TSIs) across Scotland (with the Dumfries and Galloway TSI managing Borders funding of their behalf).
• £15 million was distributed across all regions and in line with current NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee Formula (NRAC). Further detail can be found at Annex C.
• An administration grant was provided to each TSI to support administration of the Fund including a capacity building role to support and ensure accessibility of the Fund to less experienced groups.
• Support has been provided to local partnerships through the establishment of a National Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Network. The Network meets regularly and aims to connect local partnerships (TSIs, Health and Social Care Partnership leads, Suicide Prevention leads and any other interested parties) to help share good practice and learning from the Fund.
• A National Oversight Group for the Fund was established in January 2022 to provide advice around delivery of the Fund in line with the vision and intended outcomes as set out in the Fund guidance. The independent advisory group, made up of Scottish Government officials and external experts has met regularly over 2022 and 2023 to help inform policy and practice.
• To inform the future policy and practice, an external evaluation of the Fund has been commissioned and is being undertaken by Blake Stevenson Ltd. This will provide an evaluation of the Fund in terms of the impacts of Year 1 of the Fund but also a process evaluation of the delivery approach which will also reflect on the Year 2 process. This evaluation is soon to be published on the Scottish Government website.

3. Method

All TSIs were asked to complete:

• a Local Partnership Plan summary feedback questionnaire in December 2022 (drawing on the Plan being produced by TSIs in coordination with local partners)
• an interim reporting questionnaire and submission of interim project level data in January 2023
• an end year reporting questionnaire and submission of end year project level data in April 2023

The returns were provided in two forms (as outlined below), which collectively help us to understand how well plans have been advanced locally and to collate consistent information to provide a snapshot of progress nationally. The survey aimed to primarily gather key information on the processes in the delivery of the Fund, while the excel return sought to collect the project level data to provide an account of the reach of the Fund. These were collected in two returns as the project level data was not suitable for a survey response due to its detailed nature.

Analysis of the data was undertaken by Communities Team within the Wellbeing and Prevention Unit and the Health and Social Care Analytical Unit. This involved analysis of qualitative data through identification of key themes and statistical analysis of the project level data.

4. Limitations

This summary is focused on reporting returns from TSIs on: the process (in terms of the approach to delivery), the reach of projects (in terms of the number and nature of projects and their reach to target groups), and on the learning gained from Year 2 of the Fund.

Analysis is based on returns from all TSIs. It should be noted that the analysis is based on the 1437 project returns received by the point of analysis in April 2023. Further returns have since been provided, leading to the final number of projects being 1458. It should also be noted not all questions have been answered for all projects (a fairly low missing response rate overall) therefore this will explain any discrepancies in numbers.

More information on outcomes will need to be collected at a later date to allow projects to be embedded and lead to intended outcomes, rather than collecting this in end year reporting. Given this, questions posed to TSIs were largely limited to those areas where progress could be measured and reported.

5. Structure of the report

This report outlines key findings under three themes:

• Section A: Reach Of Funded Projects
• Section B: Process - Approach To Delivery
• Section C: Learning And Reflection