Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Seven point two billion pounds, 6,000 emergency admissions into our hospitals and 300 lives per year; that is the cost of mental health every single year here in Wales. And I'm sure that everybody in this Chamber recognises the severity of needing to get to grips with this problem, and the urgency, given that we've had very little progress to date, to take action to tackle it. We know that around three quarters of all mental illnesses start before a child reaches their eighteenth birthday, and that children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, or those with parents with existing mental health illnesses themselves, are more likely to develop mental health problems of their own. It's very clear from the Children, Young People and Education Committee's work that we need to build more resilience in childhood and adolescence, and to take some urgent action to address the difficulties that many of our young people face when needing to access more specialist care too. Our 'Mind over matter' report sets out the challenges and the details and provides a host of sensible, practical recommendations to address them. It was universally welcomed by stakeholders, but not—or so it seems—by the Welsh Government.

I have to say, I don't think I've seen a single Government response, in the 11 years that I've been a member of this National Assembly, that is so disappointing and complacent. Just seven recommendations have been accepted, nine have been rejected in whole or in part, and of the rest, those that have been described as 'accepted in principle' frankly should have 'rejected' sat beside them, because 'accepted in principle' is not an accurate description of the response that we read on the paper. There's no wonder, therefore, that we've had a chorus of voices from stakeholders who have been in touch with committee members and other Members of this National Assembly prior to the debate this afternoon to express their concerns. The Cabinet Secretaries for health and education have managed to unite not one, not two, but 73 psychologists to sign a single letter calling for all of the recommendations in our report to be implemented in full. The children's commissioner has said that the response that's been received is a missed opportunity, and said that the current system it not adequate or coherent. The NSPCC have said that it won't deliver the step change that's required and they are absolutely right. We need to see that step change, and it's a shame that the only one that some people seem interested in is a step change from one office into the First Minister's office. 

I really do feel that the Welsh Government needs to tear its response up and go back to the drawing board and to produce something that is a little bit more respectful, not just to the committee, but to those stakeholders and those individuals who provided the evidence on which our report is based. We're fed up with empty words. We've seen reports that have identified problems before in previous assemblies, and I'm afraid we haven't seen the action coming from the Welsh Government, from successive Ministers, to be able to deal with the challenges. We saw good practice in the evidence that we received—good practice on building mental health resilience in our schools. Schools such as Ysgol Pen y Bryn in my own constituency and their mindfulness programme—a wonderful opportunity that we presented and suggested should be rolled out further in other schools. Yet, your response to our recommendation 3 was complacent, it was inadequate, and it simply suggested more of the same and suggested that you're already doing the things that were necessary. That isn't the case. 

You've rejected our recommendation 9 and part of our recommendation 11, which call for simple things like data to be collected and published on a regular basis on mental health waiting times for children and young people seeking assessment and intervention, whether in primary or secondary care. It is shocking—absolutely shocking—that those recommendations have been rejected, and it suggests a complete lack of priority for our children and young people here in Wales. Unless we have that data, we're not going to be able to hold people to account. And it's no wonder that organisations like the Betsi Cadwaladr health board have got in excess of 1,000 young people, more than all of the other health boards in Wales combined, on waiting lists for more than a year, waiting to access assessments and waiting to access treatment for their acute secondary care issues in mental health. It's completely unacceptable. And it's for the sake of those 1,000 individuals in north Wales, and the others around the country, that we need to see the step change that our report refers to.

So, I think we need to stick this particular response in a place where the sun don't shine, the shredder, and come up with something much better in accordance with the wishes of the committee, because that's the only thing on which we're going to see any change.