Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We often talk about the need to ensure that people have access to mental health services and that support continues to be available, particularly during such a challenging time. But our focus today is on supporting people who are suffering anxiety and how we can move on from the pandemic and how we move to the future. And although levels of anxiety have remained higher than they were prior to...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Dr Brooks recommends that Gwynedd and Anglesey should extend these schemes, and we'd be interested to understand why more local authorities don't develop local policies to address local issues, given the clear steer that is in 'Planning Policy Wales'. We're acutely aware of calls for changes to planning legislation to manage issues associated with second homes and short-term holiday lets....
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to thank the Petitions Committee for their work on this issue. I am highly aware of the strong feelings, particularly in some parts of Wales, on the issue of second homes, and it's clear that some of these feelings have grown stronger as a result of Brexit, the pandemic, and, as was noted in the petition, as a result of the numbers renting through...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Now, the petition talks about the need to increase funding for mental health issues, and I'm really pleased to report that, in terms of funding in the next financial year, we've secured a further £42 million to support mental health services. This should, however, be seen within the context of the £780 million that we spend annually on mental health services, and I've started some detailed...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd. May I first of all thank the Petitions Committee for the time they've given in considering this important issue? May I apologise that neither the committee or Laura have received a formal response? I will ensure that that formal response is provided within the next week. Improving mental health services continues to be a priority for us as a Government,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: —will exist within each and every health board. So, I'm pleased that we are able to respond constructively to the motion tabled by you, Jenny. And thank you for bringing this debate forward.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd. I'd like to start by thanking Jenny Rathbone, Dai Lloyd and Jack Sargeant for bringing this important debate on diabetes prevention before the Senedd today, and I'd also like to thank Jayne Bryant for the work that she's been doing with the cross-party group. This is an important motion, and I know that diabetes is a significant problem that is growing...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. I've got so much more that I could say, but I just want to finally say something about the workforce. We have put a lot of measures in place. I am very concerned—I've met with the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and with GPs, and I think it's really important that we stand by these people who've been on the front line. As Rhun suggested, people have...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: You've heard that there has been an additional commitment of £42 million. I'm sorry, David, that that wasn't recognised in the financial impact, but it was there, so the money is there and that takes us up to about £783 million that we spend annually now on mental health. That is really important for me. I'm testing out at the moment whether we're spending it in the right places. I'm...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: This was something I was very keen to do. I was very eager to see what I would do in that situation. What would you do if you don't understand the system? So, we've ensured that every health board has had to show clearly on their websites exactly what services are available in this area.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Since the onset of the pandemic, we've put arrangements in place to understand the changes in mental health demands in order to develop our planning in this area, and these arrangements include regular reviews of the available evidence, including population surveys, weekly meetings with health boards and regular meetings with the third sector. But I do acknowledge and accept the point that...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd. First of all, may I thank the Chair and the committee for taking time to consider this very important issue? I welcome the report and its findings. I support and accept or accept in principle all of the committee's recommendations. There's a great deal contained within the report, and I don't think I'll have time to go through everything this afternoon,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Absolutely. I won't dwell on help for health professionals, because that's a specific programme we've got in place, but we do have Healthy Working Wales, of course, which is a programme that lots of public sector organisations have already signed up to. I know all seven of the health boards and the Welsh Government have signed up to this, and many local authorities, including Dyfed-Powys...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We take the health and well-being of our workforce extremely seriously and encourage employers to provide a range of extra support during the pandemic. We are monitoring the impact closely and working with partners to provide immediate additional help to respond to people's changing mental health needs.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We have been able, with some additional funding, to appoint a national suicide prevention co-ordinator, and we've now got three regional co-ordinators to make sure we strengthen that partnership working. It's a very odd situation, because one of the things that we've tried to do is to make sure that we follow real-time information. Suicide is a really difficult area, because actually you have...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks for your support and your interest in this very sensitive area. I was really pleased to meet with the Developing a Caring Wales group, and, of course, Kaleidoscope was there as a part of that representation of people looking after people in these very difficult situations. I heard in that meeting of their offer that they would like to make in terms of offering to vaccinate some of the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We've ensured that mental health services are essential services during the pandemic and have invested in a range of approaches to improve support. Preventing suicide is a complex issue and requires a multi-agency approach. We have strengthened arrangements, therefore, to improve the co-ordination of actions with partners including police, local authorities and the third sector.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: During the pandemic, we've worked very closely with area planning boards and other partners. Thanks to the excellent efforts of our substance misuse services on the front line, as well as other services, we have provided additional guidance and support, including new treatment options and funding to meet the complex needs of this group.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We not only agree, Suzy, but we have a programme for Welsh and technology that is already in place. I provided an update on this just before Christmas to show just how far we've gone with that technology plan. It's become quite clear during the pandemic that we need to understand that our society has moved to a great extent online, and we must acknowledge that we need to consider the Welsh...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Vikki. First of all, I want to pay tribute to the excellent work that they do in the council in Rhondda. It's incredible, the way that people have taken the opportunity to learn the language, and it's good to see that 19 per cent are already receiving their education through the medium of Welsh. But, of course, over the next few years, we need to see an increase in those...
