Thank you, Chair. I formally move the motion for debate, and I’m pleased to present the Welsh Government’s second delivery plan in support of our 10-year mental health strategy, ‘Together for Mental Health’.

Since the launch of the strategy in 2012, there’s been significant progress across a number of areas. Much of that progress can, of course, go largely unnoticed, but every day across Wales we see evidence that change is happening, making a difference to individuals whose lives are affected by mental health problems.

One significant area where this has happened is in the implementation of our groundbreaking legislation, the Mental Health (Wales) Measure 2010, and it’s fair to say that this was passed with cross-party support in the third Assembly. Implementing it has made real improvements to the care and support that individuals receive and in delivering a genuinely co-productive approach that places the needs of service users at the heart of service design and care and treatment planning, and that is something that we should be proud of.

Since April 2013, over 100,000 people have been assessed by local primary mental health support services that were established under the Measure, with over half of those having gone on to receive treatment in those services. Waiting times for assessment and treatment in primary care have continued to improve.

We’ve also seen the third sector taking a more active role in the way that mental health services are shaped and delivered through recent years. It is a good example of prudent health and care principles in practice. For instance, the Alzheimer’s Society’s dementia friends initiative is increasing the understanding of dementia and helping to tackle the stigma, and Bipolar UK offers a range of practical support to people affected by bipolar disorder.

We’ve continued to spend more on mental health services than on any other part of the Welsh NHS, and funding increased to over £600 million in the last year. In the past year alone, we announced over £22 million of new funding aligned to our priority areas for delivery over the next three years. That includes over £5.5 million for older people’s mental health care, which will support, amongst other things, the establishment of a multidisciplinary older adult psychiatric liaison service to help with quicker and more appropriate discharge from hospital and, hopefully, to reduce readmission rates. Also, £1.5 million is being invested in developing accessible community perinatal mental health services across Wales, which should help to improve mental health outcomes for women with perinatal illnesses, their babies and their families.

In child and adolescent mental health services, to support our together for children and young people programme, a further £7.6 million has been allocated to fund new community services for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, and better access to crisis services and psychological therapies. So, we’ve made real progress over the last year, including reducing out-of-area placements for Welsh children, and new services are starting to establish themselves well after a period of successful recruitment into those services.

The changes in CAMHS are the most significant for many years. By ensuring appropriate resources are available, we will help to achieve timely access to services and the right outcomes for children and young people. All of these commitments are built into the delivery plan to ensure there is a continuing focus on these key areas. Our new delivery plan also commits us to further improving access to talking therapies. Significant steps have been taken to improve the provision of psychological therapies in Wales, with an additional investment of nearly £2 million in adult services last year, and more than £1 million this year. More evidence-based psychological therapies are being provided locally than ever before.

The past three years have shown us that, while delivering our ‘Together for Mental Health’ strategy has been challenging, it has also been achievable, but, of course, there is much more to do. So, the draft delivery plan for 2016-19 that we’re debating today contains a number of ambitious new objectives, including resilience building and improved support for our young people, particularly those at risk of adverse childhood experiences; further addressing and preventing suicide and self-harm; and a new strategic action plan for dementia; implementation of the crisis care concordat to ensure appropriate support is provided to individuals in contact with criminal justice agencies; and a range of actions to ensure services are provided in a safe, timely and effective way that supports the dignity and respect of service users; and there is a continued emphasis on ensuring that service users and carers are able to influence the shape of mental health policy and services across Wales.

We know that stigma and discrimination continue to be major challenges. That’s why, in recent years, we’ve supported, together with Members across the Chamber, the Time to Change Wales campaign, increasing knowledge and understanding about mental health problems and getting people to start talking about mental health. Our new delivery plan places even greater emphasis on tackling stigma and discrimination.

Respondents to our consultation have welcomed the life-course approach that we’ve adopted in the plan, but have pointed out that some issues apply to people of all ages, for example loneliness and isolation. Respondents also made suggestions as to how the plan could be strengthened, including using the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 as a lever for cross-sector commitment and delivery, and building in the delivery role of the third sector and considering the physical health needs of people with mental health illnesses.

We’re giving careful consideration to all of the consultation responses, and the final version of the plan will incorporate many of the helpful suggestions that we have received, and, of course, I look forward to considering the comments made in this debate today. We also participate in an international benchmarking exercise on mental health services, and any relevant findings from that process will be incorporated into the final version of the delivery plan, which we intend to publish later this summer.

I trust that Members from all parties will recognise our shared achievements to date and appreciate that we haven’t taken soft options in setting our objectives for the three years ahead. Not all of the ambitions we’ve set out will be easy to achieve, but I’m confident that real progress can be made in the next phase of delivery.