The SSSC took over responsibility for conducting the Mental Health Officer (MHO) survey in 2012 from the Scottish Government. The survey covers those social workers employed as Mental Health Officers (MHOs) by Scottish Local Authorities.

The survey is conducted every December and it provides the data for the annual MHO survey report.

The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) assessed the SSSC’s MHO report for compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics in the second half of 2013. This assessment was considered at a meeting of their Assessment Committee in March 2014. The ensuing report identified six requirements to be met by the SSSC to ensure that its MHO publication retained its National Statistics status. The SSSC responded to these requirements in June 2014, and in July 2014, the UKSA announced that their Assessment Committee had approved the recommendation that the SSSC's MHO report should retain its National Statistics status.

The six UKSA requirements and the SSSC’s response to them are documented here.

The official UKSA announcement confirming the retention of National Statistics status for the SSSC's MHO Report is available here.

MHO Survey Group

The MHO Survey Group was chaired and operated by the SSSC as a forum for local authorities who are the main data providers and users of the MHO report. The group met once or twice a year to discuss the operation of the MHO survey. In 2014 the group was merged with the LASWS Staffing Group to become the Local Authority Workforce Data Providers Group (DPG), about which you can read here.

Minutes

You can download papers from previous group meetings: