Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to thank members of the Health, Social Care and Sport committee for their work in producing the 'Mental health in policing and police custody' report. It's important to acknowledge the role of the police in helping people in mental health crisis. In many cases, the police are the first point of contact and the support that they provide to some of our most vulnerable people is critical.

The recommendations made by the committee look to further strengthen the approach we're taking to improve crisis care, which is one of the key priorities included in the Welsh Government's 'Together for Mental Health' delivery plan that I expect to publish at the end of this week. The recommendations made in the committee's report align with the approach we are taking with partners to support people experiencing crisis through the mental health crisis care concordat, and I was pleased that many people recognised the improvements that have been made in terms of the numbers of people being detained. That has not come by accident; that's come through partnership working across health, the police and other sectors.

But I do recognise the ongoing concerns raised by the police regarding officer time spent responding to issues where mental health is deemed to be a factor. Some of this demand will be a properly appropriate use of the police's role and time under current mental health legislation. But, it will also include making sure that vulnerable people can access the right support, and that is provided across a range of agencies. From an NHS perspective, I made improving crisis care a priority, supported by additional funding. However, I recognise that the NHS is just one partner in the crisis pathway. We work closely with a range of partners, including the police, local authorities and the third sector, to improve support and outcomes for people. I was therefore pleased to agree, or agree in principle, 10 of the 11 recommendations in the committee report.

I agree with the committee about the importance of robust data and evidence on outcomes. The mental health crisis care assurance group has developed a revised data set for section 135 and section 136 detentions, which was published for the first time on 5 December. The data provides more information than was previously published, for instance, with the inclusion of ethnicity and the type of conveyance, and will now be published on a quarterly basis. We plan to continue to work with partners to conduct further analysis of the data to help inform our approach and practice over time. All partners agree that, to improve the crisis care pathway, we need a system that is able to respond to the range of ways in which people experience personal crisis. A one-size-fits-all approach will not work. To do this, we need to better understand and have a shared understanding of the demand currently described as mental health demand within our entire system.

In response, we have commissioned the NHS national collaborative commissioning unit to conduct a mental health urgent access and conveyance review. That review is being overseen by a multi-agency steering group and is analysing data across a range of partners, including the police, local authorities, 111, and the wider NHS family, including the Welsh ambulance service. The review, which will report in April, as has been mentioned, will help us understand the current demand, for instance, if it is mental health illness or distress due to social factors. This will enable all partners to consider their role in ensuring that needs are met as we improve crisis care and outcomes for people.

I accepted recommendations calling on the Government to work in partnership with the police to review the emerging evidence on the effectiveness of the different triage schemes across Wales. A key aim of the concordat assurance group is to collectively understand which approaches are most effective in improving outcomes for individuals. Regional partners are required to report local developments and initiatives to the concordat assurance group to enable that learning and to share improvements. We are working with mental health clinicians, local health boards and 111 to identify opportunities to develop a mental health crisis pathway. That will allow us to identify which approaches could then be scaled up at a national level.

In line with the committee's recommendations, we are fully committed to investing in early intervention and prevention, to reduce the risk of mental health crisis in the first place. Both the 'Together for Mental Health' delivery plan and the mental health crisis delivery plan reflect that focus. All regional mental health and criminal justice partnerships will have local plans in place to deliver on early intervention and prevention.

So, crisis and out-of-hours care remains a priority, both for the NHS and in the new 'Together for Mental Health' delivery plan for the next three years. We will continue to work collaboratively with our partners to improve the response with and for people in mental health crisis, and I will of course keep Members up to date on progress as we make it.