3. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the Welsh Government’s self-harm prevention strategy? OAQ52792

Thank you for the question. Our 'Talk to me 2' suicide and self-harm prevention strategy identifies groups of people who are especially vulnerable and puts forward actions to address the factors that can contribute to suicide and self-harm. The midpoint review of 'Talk to me 2' reported good progress towards many of the actions within the strategy.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Recent analysis by the Children's Society found that a quarter of 14-year-old girls and nearly one in 10 boys in the UK had self-harmed in a year. Sadly, the levels of understanding of the reasons behind these figures are poor. The 'Mind over matter' report conducted by the children and young people committee shed an important light on this issue. Their report found that the number of young people admitted to A&E departments for self-harm had increased by 41 per cent in the past three years. Only Aneurin Bevan university health board records how many people go to follow-up support in the days after being discharged from hospital for self-harm, a period when access to appropriate support is critical. Can the Cabinet Secretary outline whether other health boards are aware of this initiative, and what more can the Welsh Government do to improve access to support following discharge? 

Thank you for the question. As I've said earlier, we are taking seriously and taking forward our commitments made in response to the 'Mind over matter' report, with the first meeting of the jointly chaired ministerial task and finish group taking place earlier today. That was a constructive and positive meeting, so I'm looking forward to reporting on further progress in due course about what we are doing there.

However, our current 'Together for Mental Health' delivery plan set out our expectation that health boards will monitor the provision of support following hospital discharge; that is also set out in the 'Talk to me 2' delivery plan. I think what I should do is again to return to the Member to ask for proper reassurance from other health boards—they are actually taking that seriously and doing so. But more than that, in terms of how we assess and understand how it's being done, we are already looking to improve the data that we collect through the development of what's being called a mental health core data set—to understand that we're collecting the same information, in the same way, in the same place, to allow us to understand the improvement that's being made and the relative progress in different parts of the country. That goes alongside the implementation of the Welsh clinical care information system across Wales, to help improve monitoring of progress and action. That—I think helpfully for Members—is not just a matter for the national health service and clinicians, but it does involve the third sector too in engaging on what we should collect and how we should then present it and actually provide it to the public. 

Cabinet Secretary, half of all mental illnesses begin by the age of 14. To mark World Mental Health Day last week, the Prime Minister announced a series of measures on children and young people's mental health. These included recruiting new mental health support teams who will work with schools to ensure young people with mental health issues get the help they need. Given that more than 3,000 people have signed a petition set up by a Gwent mental health group calling for young people to be given more of a say in mental health services, Cabinet Secretary, what measures will you take to ensure children and young people with mental ill health get the help and support they need in our country? Thank you. 

Thank you for the question. I note the Prime Minister's recent commitments and, as I said before, I welcome that the current Prime Minister and the previous Prime Minister have been prepared to talk openly about the importance of mental health services. The challenge has always been whether they've been able to match their words with resources and action on the ground. Don't take my word for it, ask practitioners and groups in England, and they'll say that the rhetoric hasn't matched reality. Our challenge here is not just to say that we're not as bad as England but to actually say, 'What can we do to further improve?' That is exactly what we are seeking to do in taking forward the task and finish group in response to the 'Mind over matter' report. I can confirm that it won't just be that there is a focus on children and young people in how we take that work forward, but actually that we will directly involve children and young people in informing our work. Part of that will be evidence the committee has already heard, information we already collect, but also direct, face-to-face engagement with children and young people in different parts of Wales as we look to try and understand how we improve that earlier intervention and support.