Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Funding

15 March 2022

Dear

ATISN 16084 – Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Funding

Thank you for your request to the Welsh Government for information under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) received on 15 February 2022. You requested the following:

• How much financial support has been given to CAMHS in Wales since 2017/18? Please can you break it down by financial years

Our response

Whilst the Welsh Government provides the overall budget, we do not set specific budgets for CAMHS spending. These are set by Health Boards based on local population needs. A retrospective view on spending is available on the Stats Wales website. Please see the link to the relevant NHS Programme Budgeting section on the Stats Wales website which demonstrates the spend for each financial year as you have requested:

NHS expenditure by budget category and year.

The NHS expenditure by budget category and year for each financial year is as follows (for the available years):

2017-18: £52.3m

2018-19: £57m

2019:20: £72.5m

2020-21 & 2021-22: Information is not yet published and next update is due April 2022 (provisional).

In addition to the above NHS expenditure the Welsh Government has committed an additional £5.4million in 2021-22 to improve CAMHS support for young people with diagnosed mental health conditions through both community and specialist in patient services. A key element of the additional funding is directed towards strengthening support in community services in which we have made £3.6m available to health boards to provide admission alternatives, out-of-hours provision and intensive support to young people. We have also agreed a wider tier 4 (inpatient) improvement programme with the Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee (WHSSC) that will improve and strengthen support in both CAMHS units in Wales. The Welsh Government has reserved central funding totalling £1.8m to support the implementation of this improvement activity.

Next steps

If you are dissatisfied with the Welsh Government’s handling of your request, you can ask for an internal review within 40 working days of the date of this response. Requests for an internal review should be addressed to the Welsh Government’s Freedom of Information Officer at:

Information Rights Unit
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ 
or Email: Freedom.ofinformation@gov.wales

Please remember to quote the ATISN reference number above.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

However, please note that the Commissioner will not normally investigate a complaint until it has been through our own internal review process.

Yours sincerely