As chair of the cross-party group on funerals and bereavement, I welcome this debate. We understand that between 300 and 350 people die by suicide each year in Wales, according to Samaritans Cymru, with the male suicide rate almost three times higher than that for females.

Samaritans Cymru reports the figure that Lynne Neagle referred to, that at least six people are deeply affected by each suicide. Lynne indicated, actually, that the multiplier is far, far higher than that, and that a person bereaved by suicide is far more likely to attempt suicide themselves. And they add that many people who are bereaved in this way find it hard to get the help they need and that we must provide better information and support to those bereaved or affected by suicide, and that support for this group must be recognised as a key element of suicide prevention.

Reference was made to Rhian Mannings, the founder of the all-Wales charity 2 Wish Upon a Star, and the charity and Rhian take part in the cross-party group. This charity, as we heard, provides essential bereavement support for families who have suddenly and traumatically lost a child or young adult aged under 25, which may be from suicide or may be through accident or illness. She told me that sudden death is the forgotten death in Wales. And although the charity has effectively become a statutory service in Wales, working, as we heard, with every health board and every police force, they're receiving no statutory support whatsoever, having to raise every penny themselves, despite reducing pressure on mental health teams, helping tackle the unforeseeable trauma of unpredictable death and loss.

Rhian Mannings states that she started her fight after her husband and son were taken from her suddenly—no preparation, no warning and then nothing, she said—and that the lack of support they received directly led to her husband taking his own life.

Cruse Bereavement Care launched their manifesto for bereaved people two months ago. They believe that access to the right support, tailored to the need of each bereaved person, can help them deal with the challenge of grief and build a meaningful life, whilst remembering and celebrating the lives of those they have lost. This, they say, can in turn help improve mental health and reduce the impact on NHS services.

Amongst other things, Cruse is calling for a named Minister with responsibility for bereavement and a cross-departmental strategy, and for local funding for high-quality bereavement support, where they say too many people still lack support after bereavement, where in too many areas, there is no statutory funding for the agencies and charities helping bereaved people. And they call for more compassionate communities where everyone knows enough about grief to play their part in supporting people around a death. 

Marie Curie states that ensuring adequate support for families experiencing bereavement is an important part of the process of death and dying. And 2 Wish Upon a Star notes the correlation between those organisations, funded by Welsh Government, local authority or health boards, which predominantly signpost or refer into organisations and those who provide bereavement services, but receive little or no funding. And they state that services need to be widely known and a multi-agency approach undertaken to ensure support can be delivered Wales-wide and that severe long-term consequences can be reduced.

The cross-party group on hospices and palliative care, which I also chair, proposes four recommendations to improve the care and support of bereaved people in Wales, and thus ensure better outcomes for people following the loss of a loved one. Firstly, to improve data on the need for bereavement support where, due to the lack of robust needs assessment, it is currently very difficult for services to plan for meeting need or to understand what resources they may need to do so. Secondly, to make bereavement a key feature of all relevant policy to be considered and embedded in Welsh Government strategy and policy, including adult mental health and well-being and children's mental health and well-being. Thirdly, to embed bereavement support in schools. And, fourthly, to make the provision of bereavement care sustainable where the lack of strategic and policy prioritisation for bereavement support is evidenced in the very low levels of statutory funding for care for the bereaved.

Lynne Neagle made reference to the publication last month of 'A Scoping Survey of Bereavement Services in Wales: End of Study Report' commissioned by the Welsh Government. This identified that more bereavement services were available in the south-east of Wales, with the least number being available in the north and west of Wales. It said

'Respondents described a number of gaps and challenges in bereavement service provision...Many appeared to relate to the lack of a clear framework for the commissioning and delivery of bereavement services and included non-prioritisation of bereavement care within organisations, lack of access to funding and restricted access to training and appropriate facilities.' 

A key—