Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 2:18 pm on 19 September 2018.
Mark, the announcement of the group has only recently been made. As I said, the work of that group was kicked off by the multi-agency and multiprofession workshop, because before we can design a service that represents a whole-school approach we need to have an agreement on what the whole-school approach actually looks like, so that we're all working towards the same agenda. We work across portfolio, and officials that worked on the 'Together for Children and Young People' plan are constantly looking at barriers to accessing more intensive and higher level CAMHS services for children, because if a counsellor has seen that child, has a relationship with that child, and feels that more intensive therapy and support is available, then that's almost like a triage system that should ensure a swift referral and a response from CAMHS. We will continue to remove those barriers, if schools counsellors are facing them, so that process can be as quick as it needs to be for that individual child.