Mental Health Officers' reports have been produced and published by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) since December 2012. Before that, the reports were collated and published by the Scottish Government whose 2010/11 and 2011/12 editions were designated by the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) as National Statistics publications. The reports produced by the SSSC also carry that National Statistics designation.

Up to March 2012, the MHO reports presented information on qualified MHOs who were practising in Scotland on 31 March. Later in 2012, the timing of the MHO census survey was changed to December to bring it into line with the LASWS staff census survey and the Care Inspectorate's annual returns (CIARs) from all registered care services. Accordingly, the MHO data for December 2012 and 2013 is not directly comparable with that of previous MHO reports, but it is comparable with the corresponding annual LASWS census data.

The 2007/08 survey results were published in issue 19 of the Mental Health Officers in Scotland newsletter in the winter of 2008/09. The newsletter section containing the 2007/08 survey results can be found here.