AC/JN
5 November 2021
Mr John Gallacher
Response sent by email to:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx>
Dear John
I am writing further to your email of 8 October 2021 and your request for information
under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Q1 Please provide details of the amount of additional funding allocated to you by
Scottish Funding Council for Mental Health in Colleges for AY 21-22. For the
avoidance of doubt, I am referring to the funding provided which was
supplementary to the college’s core funds.
A1
This information is available on the SFC website via this link:
https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications-
statistics/announcements/2021/SFCAN212021.aspx
Ayrshire College has been allocated £316,954 for AY 21-22
Q2 Please advise what proportion of these funds wil be spent or is proposed to be
spent on Support Staff/Lecturing Staff/Students. Please provide separate figures
for each.
A2
Funds wil be apportioned as follows:
• Recruit three FTE Mental Health Champions (£220,000 approx.) – benefits
students and lecturing staff
• Staff training (£20,954) – benefits support staff/lecturing staff
• Establish Student Mentors/Champions (£2000) – benefits students
• Cross-College activities and events (£72,000) – benefits support staff,
lecturing staff and students. Al are invited to apply for funding.
• Sharing practice and raising awareness of mental health and wellbeing
(£2,000) – benefits support staff, lecturing staff and students
Q3 Please advise how the additional funds wil be spent or are proposed to be spent
on each separate group.
A3
The College proposes to use the additional Mental Health funding to support the
recruitment of three FTE Mental Health Champions and to fund a number of
innovative activities and projects across the College.
5 November 2021
Mr John Gallacher
2
The funding wil also be used to deliver staff training to support capacity building
and to ensure the long term sustainability of mental health and wellbeing support
for students.
The following provides a detailed breakdown of how the funding wil be used:
• Recruit 3 FTE Mental Health Champions (one per campus) for a two year
fixed term period to work with the College’s Mental Health Liaison Officer,
Student Experience Team and Counsellors to offer training and support to
students and build staff capacity in relation to mental health and wellbeing
across al curriculum teams.
The Mental Health Champions wil also support the delivery and evaluation of
activities funded through the College’s internal Mental Health Funding
process, outlined below.
• Provide Mental Health First Aid training for the Mental Health Champions and
for key staff across all curriculum areas.
Provide ‘Train the Trainer’ Mental Health First Aid training to enable key staff
members to become accredited trainers of Mental Health First Aid and to
ensure ongoing sustainability and capacity building.
Identify other staff training opportunities relating to mental health to continue
to build staff capacity to support students.
• As part of the Student Association, students would be invited to apply to be
a Mental Health Student Mentor/Champions to help raise awareness of
mental health across the college and work on events/projects with the
Mental Health Champions. Funding would be used to support the students
in their role.
• The College has implemented a successful application process to encourage
and fund activities and projects to support Mental Health and Wellbeing
across the College.
Staff and student groups are encouraged to submit bids for funding to support
specific activities. These are considered by the Mental Health Funding
Review Panel who make a decision about whether or not to approve funding
for the project or activity.
The College aims to continue with this approach in 2021-22. Therefore,
funding wil be set aside to continue to fund innovative, bespoke mental health
projects across all curriculum and service areas.
Funding wil also be available to the Student Association to fund ongoing work
to support student mental health and wellbeing.
5 November 2021
Mr John Gallacher
3
• Funding wil be allocated to design and produce two newsletters/Sway
booklets per year to showcase all the mental health activities that have
taken place within the College and to continue to raise awareness of mental
health and wellbeing.
4
Please advise whether the recognised trade unions were consulted before
submission of the document or on any subsequent decisions taken.
4
This proposal was developed by members of the College’s Promoting Wellbeing
Group and through consultation with the Student Association, the Counselling
Team, the College’s Mental Health Liaison Officer and the Vice Principal
(Curriculum). The College also consulted the Scottish Funding Council.
Members of the Promoting Wellbeing Group include support staff and lecturing
staff members. Some of these members may be trade union members. The
College has implemented a successful application process to allow al members
of staff and students the opportunity to access additional mental health funding
to support their proposals for activities and events. The College believes that this
inclusive and accessible approach is the most effective way to ensure all staff
and students have the opportunity to benefit from these funds.
If you are unhappy with our response to your FOI request, the FOI Act gives you the
right to complain. If you wish to complain, the issues you raise wil initially be considered
by staff not involved in the handling of your original request through an internal
review. You wil receive a substantive response as soon as possible. We aim to
complete internal reviews within 20 working days of receipt.
In exceptional circumstances it may take longer than 20 working days to complete an
internal review; in such cases, we wil notify you in writing. Complaints or requests for
internal review should be submitted no more than two months after we sent a
substantive reply to your original request.
Requests for internal reviews should be addressed to:
Al yson Sharp
Information and Customer Relations Officer
Ayrshire College
Kilmarnock Campus
18-21 Hill Street
Kilmarnock
KA1 3HY
Email:
xxxxxxx.xxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xx.xx
5 November 2021
Mr John Gallacher
4
If you are dissatisfied with the College's response to your internal review, you wil have
a further right of appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. You can contact the
Information Commissioner by writing to:
Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
KY16 9DS
01334 464613
01334 464611
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
You can now make Freedom of Information (FOI) appeals online, using the new online
appeal service – click on the link below:
www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal
Yours sincerely
Anne Campbell
Vice Principal, Curriculum
c.c. Al yson Sharp, Information and Customer Relations Officer
