BPS Policy & Public Affairs team - December 2024 update

As the end of this year comes to a close, we wanted to thank all BPS members for their contributions to our Policy and Public Affairs work. December included the following highlights: 

In England, we submitted evidence to inform the UK government's 10-year health plan which is due to be published in Spring 2025. In our submission, we called for this plan to focus on prevention and early intervention, to give equal importance to physical and mental health, to tackle health inequalities, and to support the mental health and wellbeing of the NHS workforce. We also responded to the Health and Social Care Committee's inquiry on the costs of not reforming adult social care, and the Work and Pensions Committee's inquiry on safeguarding vulnerable claimants.  

This month saw the publication of the UK government's Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We are monitoring developments of the bill and will be briefing parliamentarians ahead of the bill's second reading in the New Year. We will also be engaging with external stakeholders as the bill makes its passage through parliament. To inform our engagement and influence, we will be holding a roundtable on Friday 31 January, from 12-1pm, on driving change for children and young people's mental health and wellbeing. If you are interested in joining the roundtable, please email Zosia Walecka (Senior Policy and Public Affairs Adviser) on [email protected].  

In Wales, we responded to the Welsh Government's dementia action plan pre-engagement survey. Furthermore, we recently welcomed the publication of the Women's Health Plan, which focuses on the wider issues around women's health, including mental health, and not just reproductive health. We also welcomed the announcement around the draft Budget for Wales, which will be voted on in March 2025 and if agreed, will provide £26 billion investment in Wales backed by an additional £1.5 billion compared to last year. 

Additionally, we have closely been monitoring the Scottish Budget. On 4 December, Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Shona Robison, presented the Scottish Budget 2025-26 to the Scottish Parliament. Headline announcements included: 

• £21bn for health and social care – a stated increase of £2bn for frontline NHS boards 
• £200m to reduce waiting lists and delayed discharges 
• An increase to Local Government funding by over £1bn from 2024-25 to 2025-26. This includes increases in funding for additional support for learning and the school workforce. 
• A claim that mental health funding is to rise by £3m in the 2025-26 budget. This comes, however, after earlier in-year fiscal reductions to the Scottish Government's budget announced in September 2024, which reduced the overall mental health budget for 2024-25 by £18.8m (decreasing from £290m to £271.2m). As the budget document uses the figures after the in-year cuts as a baseline rather than the budget set for this year, the increase claimed does not take into account failure to restore the previous cut. 

On 11 December, the BPS attended a Scotland's Mental Health Partnership meeting with Maree Todd (the Scottish Government Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport) - where the budget was the main topic for discussion. The BPS will continue to assess the full detail behind the headlines and monitor developments over the coming weeks. The SNP does not have a majority in the Scottish Parliament, so will need the support of other parties to pass its budget. The 2025-26 budget will follow the standard Parliamentary budget approval process from December 2024 (draft budget presented to parliament) to February 2025 (stage 3 approval).  

Educational psychologists campaign 

We are delighted with the progress of our SEND campaign to date. Since the campaign's launch on 17 September, more than 1,100 letters were sent to MPs by BPS members, education professionals, and parents and carers. As a result, nine parliamentary questions were asked by MPs keen to ask the Secretary of State for Education what the government's plan are to recruit and retain educational psychologists.  

This week we've contacted educational psychologists from across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to invite them to share their impact stories with us. These case studies will feature in a report, including a rapid evidence review, that will demonstrate the impact and outcomes of educational psychologists' work on outcomes for children and young people.  

We have also teamed up with the Local Government Association on a call for evidence for local authorities' retention strategies for educational psychologists. We will use the findings to disseminate learning and best practice, and to inform our next steps.  

Our work on the campaign continues into 2025. 

Looking ahead 

We will be returning from the festive break with a full programme of work. In addition to continuing work under our educational psychologists campaign, we will be ensuring the views of members continue to feature throughout the Psychology Matters campaign, we will be influencing legislation including the Mental Health Bill and the Children's Wellbeing & School's Bill, and we will be working with members across BPS Divisions in Scotland to develop a BPS manifesto for the next Scottish Parliament elections. 

In the New Year, the Policy and Public Affairs team will be responding to several consultations. We are currently in the process of finalising a response to the Ministry of Justice on their sentencing review and to the Justice Committee on their inquiry into resettlement and rehabilitation. Furthermore, the Scottish Government is currently consulting on its Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Strategy, which sets out a framework to drive and support action by the government and wider public sector to embed equality and human rights throughout policy, practice and delivery. To inform a BPS response to the consultation, member views would be much appreciated by Wednesday 29 January 2025.