Scottish Government

Children and Young People's Mental Health: A Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care

Dear Colleague

Children and Young People's Mental Health: A Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care - A Draft for Consultation

Since publication of the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme (SNAP) report on Child and Adolescent Mental Health in March 2003, the Scottish Executive has been working with the expert advisory Child Health Support Group to promote implementation of its recommendations. The key focus has been the development of Children and Young People's Mental Health: A Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care, to assist local health, education and social services in planning and delivering integrated approaches to children and young people's mental health across the continuum of promotion, prevention and care.

Earlier this year, the Child Health Support Group national SNAP into Action conference brought together professionals from all over Scotland currently working in a wide range of agencies and contexts with children and young people, to discuss approaches to supporting mental health and wellbeing. Around 30 young people also participated in the conference. Many of the views and comments expressed on the day have helped to shape the attached draft Framework.

The draft Framework is being published today for a three month consultation. We would welcome your views on the draft, and in particular, your response to the specific questions that have been identified in the document. All comments received will be analysed and the final document will be revised before issuing in final form.

We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by Friday 25 March 2005, to the Women and Children's Unit at the above address in hard copy, or by email to womenandchild.unit@scotland.gsi.gov.uk. We would be grateful if you could clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

We ask that you complete and return the "Respondee Information Form" with your response to help ensure that we deal with it appropriately. We will make all responses available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library by the end of May 2005, unless confidentiality is requested. All responses not marked confidential will be checked for any potentially defamatory material before being logged in the library.

The draft Framework is being published electronically on the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Health Service (SHOW) websites. This consultation, and all other SE consultation exercises, can be viewed online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

The Scottish Executive now has an email alert system for Scottish Executive consultations (SEconsult - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/seConsult). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new Scottish Executive consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces Scottish Executive distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all Scottish Executive consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

If you have any queries about this consultation, please contact Sarah Corcoran in the Women and Children's Unit on 0131 244 2704. Please also contact Sarah if you require the text of this consultation paper to be made available in an alternative format or language. We will try to accommodate your needs.

We look forward to receiving your views.

Yours sincerely

Dr Linda de Caestecker
Head of Women and Children's Unit

The Scottish Executive Consultation Process

Consultation is an essential and important aspect of Scottish Executive working methods. Given the wide-ranging areas of work of the Scottish Executive, there are many varied types of consultation. However, in general, Scottish Executive consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work to do so in ways which will inform and enhance that work.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body. Consultation exercises may involve seeking views in a number of different ways, such as public meetings, focus groups or questionnaire exercises.

Typically, Scottish Executive consultations involve a written paper inviting answers to specific questions or more general views about the material presented. Written papers are distributed to organisations and individuals with an interest in the area of consultation, and they are also placed on the Scottish Executive web site ¹ enabling a wider audience to access the paper and submit their responses. Copies of all the responses received to consultation exercises (except those where the individual or organisation requested confidentiality) are placed in the Scottish Executive library at Saughton House, Edinburgh (K Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD, telephone 0131 244 4552).

The views and suggestions detailed in consultation responses are analysed and used as part of the decision making process. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to:

Sarah Corcoran
Scottish Executive Health Department
Women & Children's Unit
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
E-mail: womenandchild.unit@scotland.gsi.gov.uk