Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the withdrawal of funding for the Notre Dame Children’s Centre, what steps it can take to prevent other specialist centres that provide children’s mental health services from facing similar funding reductions.
In recognition of financial pressures, our 2025-26 budget includes record levels of investment - over £21.7 billion for Health and Social Care and over £15 billion for the Local Government Settlement.
While the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, it is for Health and Social Care Partnerships to ensure that support services are in place to provide people with the appropriate support in the right place and at the right time. Decisions on how best to deliver services to local communities, including funding for services like the Notre Dame Centre, are ultimately for local partners to make.
However, these decisions should be made in consultation with people who use those services and in full awareness of the impact on them and on other services who may be asked to provide support in their place.
I would therefore encourage all partners to work together to find solutions that not only address financial pressures but put the needs of local people, particularly those who are most vulnerable, at the centre.