1. How will the First Minister ensure that the emotional and mental health of children and young people is prioritised for the duration of this Assembly term? OAQ53224

Llywydd, the Government announced yesterday that a further £7.1 million will be invested from April of this year to support the emotional and mental health of our children and young people. This commitment underpins our response to the recommendations contained in the 'Mind over Matter' report.

Thank you, First Minister, and I was delighted to hear about that extra £7.1 million that was announced yesterday. As you'll be aware, 'Mind over Matter' enjoys strong cross-party support, and I believe that it sets out a clear road map for transforming the emotional and mental health of our children and young people. That said, I'm under no illusions about the scale of the challenge we face, and a particular concern is the rise in the number of young people dying by suicide in Wales and an overall rise in the suicide rate of 12 per cent that goes against the trend of a reduction in the number of suicides in the rest of the UK.

Would the First Minister agree with me that if we are to stem that trend, investing in the emotional and mental health of our children and young people is absolutely crucial? And what assurances can you give that some of this extra money—a good chunk of this extra money—will be directed at the early intervention and prevention that is advocated by 'Mind over Matter'?

I thank Lynne Neagle for that supplementary question and thank her for the work that she has led, through the committee, which has been so widely supported across the Assembly Chamber. She will know that a whole series of actions are being taken forward, in which she herself is playing a direct part, for example, through the ministerial task and finish group on the report, and further actions that will happen through others, including young people themselves, who we want to make sure we involve directly in the way that these services are developed in the future, because those young people make exactly the point that Lynne Neagle made in closing there—that when they are going through the tough times that are often involved in growing up, what they want is a response that recognises that. They don't want a mental health response; they want a response that any young person would be able to use. It's why we've provided, as we'll hear later on this afternoon, an extra £2.5 million next year for the youth service, so that it can play its part as a universal service, making sure that there are adults available that young people facing difficult times in their lives can meet and can explore and be provided with the help that they need.

As far as suicide is concerned, of course we are right to be concerned when there is any adverse change in the numbers of suicides, particularly amongst young people here in Wales. The numbers do fluctuate from year to year. This year's fluctuation was small numerically and not statistically significant, but 'Talk to me 2' and the other actions we are taking in this field remain central to making sure that we have a response that matches the challenge that young people face in their lives.

First Minister, I join you in commending the work of Lynne Neagle and her committee, which I think has been key in this area. Can I highlight the increasing pressures caused by internet use, particularly social media? Children in the UK now spend more time on the internet than any other country apart from Chile in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and we are way above the average of the OECD. I think these are causing pressures that a lot of other people, like parents and teachers, are possibly unaware of. And I'm afraid we are now seeing some extreme events as well as a result of this, sometimes. So, we really need to ensure that we have a good policy in giving our young people the sort of assistance they need to use these wonderful new tools responsibly.

I thank the Member for that additional question, because he's right that we need to think about how we explain the surge of mental health concerns amongst young people that are reported in Wales, but also across the United Kingdom as a whole, and to try to identify those factors in contemporary circumstances that might help us to explain that phenomenon. Every age faces new challenges of a sort that young people have to absorb. You can go back 150 years to find newspaper accounts of how penny dreadfuls made available to children through circulating libraries were making a difference in the lives of young people, and you see that right through the ages, whether it's the onset of cinema or radio or television or, in our own time, as the Member has said, the internet. But the internet is a different phenomenon in many ways. When used badly, it has an insidious ability to enter the lives of young people and to cause them anxiety and distress. So, of course, we have to make sure that the way in which we shape our policies takes account of new factors and new phenomena of the sort the Member pointed to.