Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:59 pm on 30 January 2019.
Can I start by thanking my friend Bethan Sayed for tabling this very short debate and allowing me to follow on from that great opening speech? I haven't got a poem, but I do welcome the opportunity to share my thoughts. All the issues that Bethan talked about are actually costing lives. They're causing heartbreak and anguish for people with eating disorders and other mental health illnesses and to their families as well. And, ultimately, it is costing the NHS more due to the increased spend when someone hits crisis point.
We do, you're quite right, take social media home with us—more so than ever before. And I think that as politicians we know that too often with trolls, but it's not just trolls that are out there. Some may not mean it, but there are images out there, there are adverts out there that portray maybe the wrong things in life. But you are right, because yes, we have Snapchat and we put a filter on our Snapchat, selfies or our Instagram post, but does that make it right? I don't think it does, and that's the question we should all ask ourselves. So, thank you, Bethan, for bringing this forward today because we all in this Chamber need to be working harder on this issue.
But I think it's also worth taking a moment of reflection about the other content available online and a reflection about the suicide of the 14-year-old girl just not long ago. And I send my thoughts, along with the thoughts of the Members in the Chamber, to the family and other families in a similar position. Now, that highlighted to me that there are children out there, there are young people out there, who are able to access online very easily messages to promote suicide and poor health. That is simply unacceptable and I do think we do need to look at regulating various social media platforms.
I'll just finish on a final point, coming back to eating disorders, and I welcome an opportunity to meet with campaigner Hope Virgo in the coming months, who is a very good campaigner on these issues. I do welcome that opportunity, and I know I'll be meeting her with Bethan as well. So, one final pledge to Members within the Chamber and across parties, please support and have a look at Hope's Dump the Scales campaign. She also had similar eating disorder problems during her life and she focuses on tackling the stigma behind them and mental health in general. So, da iawn, Bethan, and I look forward to working with you and challenge the Government on this issue.