Mental health and wellbeing strategy

12. Other strategies and policy drivers

Cross-government working

Successful public services improve society, form the basis of local and national government efforts to create fairness and help individuals transform their lives and communities. In order to achieve our outcomes, a cross-government, cross-sector approach is required. Because the factors determining mental health are multisectoral, interventions to promote and protect mental health and wellbeing should be delivered across multiple sectors. A range of work is already taking place at local and Scottish Government levels and across all sectors to promote positive mental wellbeing, prevent poor mental health, and provide support, care and treatment where needed. This Strategy does not seek to duplicate the good work already taking place but rather to align with it, acknowledge it and build on it.

Key policy drivers: sustaining public services

The levers for change that will help us improve overall population mental health and wellbeing sit across many different portfolio areas and agencies. Likewise, our push to improve mental wellbeing will support the delivery of other key policies.

A wide range of current and upcoming policies, programmes and initiatives have been identified as contributing to this Strategy's outcomes, including the values and outcomes of Scotland's National Performance Framework. Examples of these are listed in the Appendix.

We want mental health considerations to be integrated into all policy. Over the lifetime of this Strategy, we will seek to strengthen collaboration across all sectors to maximise our collective impact on the population's mental health and wellbeing. We will take a phased approach to this work, prioritising areas where we have current joint work and new areas where we stand to make the most significant gains. These include work on employability, tackling child poverty, keeping the Promise to our care experienced children, young people, adults and families and aligning priorities with substance use and mental health, and building mental health into the relevant Scottish Government Care and Wellbeing Portfolio programmes and projects.

Policy priorities

• Recovery, renewal, and transformation (NHS Reform), including COVID-19 recovery
• Tackling poverty, in particular, child poverty
• The Promise
• Sustainable public services
• Human rights
• Equality and inclusion
• Housing
• Social security
• Fair Work, employability and skills
• Economy
• Early learning and school age childcare
• Education
• Digital, including Digital Health and Care
• Safer communities
• Justice
• Population health
• Social care
• Children and families
• Adult support and protection
• Climate change