Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:48 pm on 17 October 2018.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:48, 17 October 2018

I think you raise an interesting point about one in three people being in contact, but it also means that roughly two in three are not. So, there's a challenge about what we do if people are in contact with the health service as well as a broader societal challenge of actually persuading people to talk and to listen as well. On your point about what we are actually doing, there are two broad points I'd make. The first is that we're investing an additional £35 million into mental health and learning disability services in the next year, and a specific part of that will go into crisis care, because part of what you're talking about is what happens at a point of real crisis. We recognise that some parts of our system are better than others, so we will invest more in crisis care over the next year.

The second point is in respect of 'Mind over matter' and the more preventative end, of earlier intervention and prevention, not just the broad phrase of the missing middle, but in particular about children and young people. We're taking forward the commitments that we've made. Today was the first meeting of the joint task and finish group, chaired by myself and the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Kirsty Williams. You'll be aware that the Chair of the children and young people's committee is an observer on that, able to speak freely, as she certainly did during the committee today. That's to understand whether we're not just pointing in the right direction but whether we have the right people together to try and make a difference not just in a whole-school approach, but more broadly across our whole system as well. So, we are taking seriously the messages in the 'Mind over matter' report. We're committed to doing what we promised we would do, and I expect that we'll come back before the committee. As the Chair has indicated, she will give us the opportunity to appear before the committee in the spring to be able to say what we have done over the first six months and where we expect to be in the future as well. I recognise that Members do take this matter seriously, as they should.