Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I’d like to thank Plaid Cymru for bringing forward the debate and Members who have contributed to a mature and sensible debate, which I think reflects the approach that this Chamber has taken through a range of terms on this issue. Because, as others have said, we all recognise that mental health issues will affect all of us at some time or another, whether directly as individuals experiencing that, or friends, families or loved ones. I do support the principles of the motion today.

Of course, Monday was World Mental Health Day, when I launched the Government’s second delivery plan to support our 10-year cross-Government strategy, ‘Together for Mental Health’, and yesterday, during my oral statement, we went through that delivery plan in more detail for the next three years. We set out 10 priority areas for improvement, and how we expect to see that driven forward and actually delivered.

I’ll start with the area of stigma and discrimination, which, again, we discussed yesterday. I’m pleased to hear a range of Members raise this issue in their contributions today, and also to reflect back to those Members in this Chamber who actually talked about their own experiences of suffering from mental health illness. I think it’s really important that we all display an element of leadership here, as individuals and as Members in this place, in the way we conduct ourselves. The way we talk about these issues does make a difference.

Whilst we know that attitudes are changing, there’s still much more to do. That’s why it’s a priority within the new programme for government and it’s also a key element of the ‘Together for Mental Health’ delivery plan too. I’m really pleased that other Members in this Chamber, in every party, have recognised the value of the Time to Change Wales campaign. It’s the first national campaign of its kind to help end discrimination and stigma for those who experience mental health problems. Of course, the main aim of that is not just to challenge those problems, it’s to try and change the way we think and talk about these issues, as well. That partnership that’s brought that together is with Mind, Hafal and Gofal, and the Welsh Government is proud to have supported that with £0.5 million of funding.

We’ll also be supporting a state of stigma event early in the new year, run in partnership with Mind, Gofal and Hafal, to make sure that this issues does not fall off the agenda. There’s much that we have done, which we should be proud of, but there’s still much more to do.

The issues about stigma and discrimination will also inform the new young person’s anti-stigma programme that will be led by the Time to Change partnership. Over the course of the project, we expect young champions to engage with at least 5,000 young people and aim to develop a whole-school approach to mental health awareness, anti-stigma messaging and activity to reinforce that.

I also recognise that many Members referred to the world of work in their contributions. Of course, as we set out yesterday, again, mental health problems can have a huge impact on someone’s ability to work, but also good work is good both for people’s physical health and mental health too. So, through our Healthy Working Wales programme, we’re supporting employers to recognise that mental health is not necessarily a barrier to work and sustainable employment is often the best way to support individuals to help them to recover from any episodes of mental ill health. That Healthy Working Wales programme allows us to support employers to support their own staff to improve their own mental health and well-being. Over 3,000 employers are already engaged with Healthy Working Wales and between them, they employ over 460,000 people in Wales. So, there is significant reach with that programme already.

To build on this and take it forward, we’ve developed a programme, funded through European structural funds, to sustain people in work and help people to move closer to work as well. That’s got a focus on supporting people with mental health problems. So, the in-work support service aims to help over 4,000 people and 500 employers by providing rapid access to work-focused therapies for those at risk of long-term sickness absence. The out-of-work service aims to assist 6,000 people to overcome health barriers to employment, moving them closer to work or actually into work. These programmes have secured over £8 million of European structural funding support over three years.

Again, I’m happy to recognise what’s been said, not just in today’s debate, but during yesterday’s statement and many others, and I’m sure that will continue to be the case in the future, and that’s about how we support children and young people. Again, this is a key element, as you’d expect it to be, of our approach to improving mental health and well-being and tackling stigma and discrimination. We’ll continue to have debates around CAMHS and what we’re doing until we recognise that waiting times are in a position where all of us recognise that we’re in an acceptable position and we see real and sustained improvement. I do not shy away from that. That is why it is a priority within our delivery plan. In particular, the broader objective to develop resilience and emotional well-being amongst children and young people to make sure that before children reach teenage years, we’ve actually helped to develop that resilience and emotional well-being so that we do see fewer problems arising at that time and later on in adult life.

As you’ll have heard yesterday from the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children, there’s strong evidence that the well-being of children is linked to their educational outcomes. Children with higher levels of emotional, behavioural, social and school well-being, on average, have higher levels of academic achievement. They also appear to be more engaged in school, further and higher education, work and other aspects of life in later years. That’s why we will be strengthening our work with schools and colleges to help children and young people feel better and, hopefully, to tackle some of the newer problems that people like myself did not have to face. For example, the internet and social networking provide different challenges and problems that we need to be aware of.

So, we aim to do more than intervene when problems start to emerge; we aim to promote actively that positive well-being. And that’s why we are supporting school counselling services. They’re in every secondary school and for year 6 pupils as well. I was pleased to hear Jenny Rathbone mention the fact that some schools are positively using their PDG money to actually help with this area of school counselling to promote well-being for children and the whole parent community. There is, of course, the opportunity in the PSE part of the curriculum: it’s standard, it’s expected, and so it’s a part of every curriculum for pupils in maintained schools, and the opportunity is there to think about how we positively promote messages in this area, too. But, just as a matter of—. This is a matter where we’ve put £13 million in grant funding over five years into this area. It’s now part of the RSG for local authorities to make sure that that money is available for a school counselling service.

In terms of the role of public services—and, again, I’m pleased to see these mentioned in the motion—you’ll be aware the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 requires all public bodies to maximise their contribution to the well-being goals, and that is about physical and mental health and well-being as well. You will, of course, be aware that the Assembly Commission and other public bodies—over 30 public bodies—have signed the Time to Change Wales organisational pledge.

I do want to deal with the reference to employment law in the motion, and here I agree with Dawn Bowden, who I knew in a different life, when she had a job that people respected in a trade union and I was a lawyer, which wasn’t necessarily respected by everyone, but the reality was always that the law would say one thing, but it was all about how you enforce your rights. Actually, in mental health stigma and discrimination, the challenge was how you get to that point where you’ve resolved those issues without needing to go to the law. That was almost always about organisational culture and changing the minds of employers, because often the policy position that each employer had sounded perfect. The challenge was always: how do you deal with that and how do you make that change? The law is part of it, but that cultural challenge is an even bigger part. I’d say to colleagues in Plaid Cymru, we will be supporting the Conservative amendment. If that isn’t passed, we will ask the Chamber to support the Government amendment. But, having an honest disagreement about the devolution of employment law does not mean that we don’t care. It does not mean this is not a priority for the Government. It’s simply disagreement on how we get there and where powers should lie.

I just want to finish on this part, because, in today’s debate and previously, there’s been a real measure of cross-party support and consensus. It’s how the mental health Measure was passed in the first place, and each party in this Chamber that’s been here for the last few terms has a real share of credit for the way that Measure was introduced and is being implemented. I hope that we maintain that broad consensus, because each of us has a shared responsibility and ability to influence this debate positively, so I look forward to working with people across each of the parties, because we recognise that there’s much we have already achieved, but also much more to do until all of us can say that we’re happy and satisfied. Many thanks.