Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, David, and thanks to you for all the work you've done not just on this portfolio, but also for your work over so many years. You truly have been an absolute cornerpiece of the development of this institution, and I'd just like to note my personal thanks to you for everything you've done, not least for making sure that the Conservative Party have stayed with devolution, and,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, I think that the fact that we did launch Creative Wales and that we've moved forward with that project, and the fact that we have understood that this industry is something that does contribute in a profound way to our economy—. If you look at the increase in the number of people who work in the arts, there's been an increase of about 50 per cent over the last decade. There has been...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Siân. As you're aware, we did commission this before the pandemic struck, and, obviously, if there's anything that's been affected by the pandemic, well, that's major events, and so, to a certain extent, part of the problem is that a lot of the report was written before the pandemic. So, evidently, we needed to adapt that in the face of the pandemic, because the support...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Siân. First of all, I'm just so pleased that we've been able to announce this additional funding. This isn't something that happens in England in the same way, and certainly the help that we've been able to provide to freelancers is something that has genuinely been appreciated because none of that is happening in England. Certainly, I was aware during the first phase...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Bethan, and thank you for everything that you've done in this area. I know that this is something that you've been campaigning on for a long time. Certainly, one of the things that I am concerned about is the fact that we have, particularly in the area of eating disorders, seen an increase during the pandemic. That's something I've asked my team to focus on. We need to understand...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Nick. Certainly, that community mental health support is absolutely critical, and I think that it is important that we try and give that support, as far as possible, as close to home as possible, because, generally speaking, mental health support is not something you can just fix once; you have to have an ongoing relationship, you have to keep working on it. That's why...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Jack. Thanks very much for all you've done to champion the issue of mental health. Since you've been in the Senedd, you really have been one of the foremost champions of this issue. I'd like to just underline my thanks to you for also being so honest about some of the issues that you've struggled with. Thank you very much, because it does help people to talk about it. I must...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Jack. We've committed an additional £4 million next year to improve access to non-clinical support for low-level mental health issues like anxiety, and this is going to build on funding we've provided this year to improve support, including the roll-out of online cognitive behavioural therapy.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Dai. I'm really anxious about this situation. We know that the children's commissioner has found that about 67 per cent of our children from age 12 to 18 are suffering with some form of anxiety at the moment. And of course, being out of routine is going to cause an issue for many people, and I do hope that we'll see those levels come down now, as children go back to school....
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Dai. I know that a lot of work has been done in terms of emergency services, and that's where we've been focusing our work at present in terms of mental health. Because what was happening was that we were in a situation where, when people picked up the phone, some of the only services available, particularly after 5 o'clock in the afternoon, were emergency services. And very often,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: There is a range of mental health support available in South Wales West, in terms of services that are provided not just by the third sector but also by the NHS. This includes the sanctuary service in Swansea Bay, which has been developed by mental health services together with the regional partnership board for West Glamorgan and the mental health charity Hafal.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We expect all health boards to maintain mental health services and to monitor and respond to changing mental health needs. Hywel Dda University Health Board has worked closely with stakeholders over recent years to develop its transforming mental health programme. We expect to receive their annual plan for 2021-22 on 31 March 2021.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We are working across Government and with partners to take a broad approach to the mental health needs of young people. This includes prevention and early intervention, for instance through our whole-system approach to emotional well-being in schools, through to improving access to specialist services.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Our 10-year mental health strategy, 'Together for Mental Health', sets out how we intend to improve population-wide resilience and mental well-being. An example of how we have supported the mental well-being of people is the healthy and active fund, which has several projects operating in Ynys Mon.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The Minister for Education and I have regular meetings to discuss Welsh in education. Supporting our school governors to use Welsh and see the value of the language is crucial. All information provided by the Welsh Government to enable local authorities to deliver governor support services is provided bilingually.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Preventing suicide is complex and requires a multi-agency approach. We have strengthened arrangements to improve the co-ordination of actions with partners including police, local authorities and the third sector. We have also published guidance for schools to help recognise and support young people at risk of suicide and self-harm.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Public Health Wales leads the Making Every Contact Count programme, which aims to use every day interactions to help people to improve health and well-being. We are strengthening the links between MECC and our tier 0 support for low-level mental health issues, for instance anxiety.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: In terms of understanding the impacts of COVID-19 on mental health, we're continuing to strengthen the arrangements that we put in place at the start of the pandemic. These include analytical support to draw out the latest evidence of outcomes from population surveys, both in Wales and in the wider UK. Caroline was absolutely right to draw attention to the fact that people in Britain seem to...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to thank Caroline Jones for bringing this short debate forward on such an important issue.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Caroline Jones, for introducing this debate in such a compassionate way; you have been full of humanity in the way that you've presented that. So, thank you very much, because it is an issue that is touching so many lives at the moment.
