5. Will the First Minister outline the actions the Welsh Government is taking to improve the mental health of people in Wales? OAQ(5)0579(FM)

‘Together for Mental Health’, our cross-Government mental health strategy, and the related 2016-19 delivery plan set out our priorities for improving the mental health and well-being of people in Wales.

Thank you. Two weeks ago I was proud to speak alongside the health Secretary at the first-year celebrations of Valleys Steps, a community projects that seeks to improve emotional well-being through mindfulness and stress control courses. Now, Valleys Steps has helped nearly 2,000 people during their first year, and Mental Health Awareness Week seems an appropriate time to celebrate their success. With one in four people experiencing mental health issues, what best practice can the Welsh Government draw from Valleys Steps and promote amongst other health boards across Wales?

Well, Valleys Steps is an innovative approach: it aims to improve mental health and reduce antidepressant prescribing. I do congratulate them on reaching their first anniversary, and we are keen to spread the word of innovative models such as this to encourage similar collaboration to support people with mental health problems, and that work, then, will inform new initiatives, including the development of the well-being bond and the social prescribing pilots. So, we’ll consider the work of organisations such as Valleys Steps in order to ensure that what we are doing is strengthened as a result of looking at their experience.

First Minister, a number of deaths by suicide have occurred in the recent past in schools in my constituency. Now, earlier this year, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom made an announcement that every secondary school in England should be offered mental health first aid training, which teaches people how to identify young people who might be developing a mental health issue, and this policy has been very well received by charities and professionals especially, and we must remember that many young people do struggle with issues such as anorexia and self-harming as well as suicidal thoughts. And I just wondered, First Minister, if you might consider a similar initiative to go on in our schools to try to prevent these wasteful deaths.

Well, I did note the Prime Minister’s announcement recently where she talked about having somebody in every school in England and Wales. I know that was a mistake on her part, and the idea behind what she suggested is one worthy of examination. But, of course, what I remind the Member of is that we have a counsellor in every secondary school in Wales already able to provide that service. I think the trick is not just to provide the counsellor, but to ensure that young people feel able to go and see that counsellor. And that’s a more difficult nut to crack. Actually going to see somebody and people maybe finding out, even though it’s confidential—young people see it that way. That can be quite a step for them as well.

We already have the counsellors in schools, but that’s not enough of itself. We also need to make sure, of course, that young people are able to access assistance outside school as well, particularly in an environment where they feel comfortable.

Does the First Minister truly understand how much of a crisis there is facing us in terms of mental health care in Wales? In Ynys Môn, I understand that there is now not a single psychiatric consultant for mental health patients between 18 and 65 years of age. Mental health professionals are working under huge pressures that they can’t cope with and they fear that they are having to make decisions that will be a risk to patients. The shortage of beds means that people are taken as far as London to be treated or receive care. There are dozens of children and young people who are sent to England for treatment, and over 200 mental health patients in north Wales have been transferred out of Wales in the last 22 months. The whole system is on its knees. When will the Government take action in order to safeguard some of my most vulnerable constituents?

I do not accept the figures that the Member has listed in the Chamber. First of all I must say that the funding for mental health has gone up to £629 million for the ensuing financial year, and that is safeguarded. Health boards have attained their targets as regards mental health services and have actually exceeded them in some areas in the past 12 months. And of course although more people are transferred into CAMHS, the health boards are confident that the situation will demonstrate that every CAMHS service in every part of Wales attained the 28-day target before they get a new appointment. And so very many improvements have taken place over the past year.