Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 17 November 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:46, 17 November 2020

Llywydd, let me begin by agreeing with Paul Davies that getting the help you need for people who feel the pressure of these extraordinary months in their sense of mental health and well-being is very important indeed. And there is something for us all to think about in that result that people hadn't failed to get help in the sense they'd asked for it and help wasn't available; they hadn't gone looking for help, because they somehow didn't feel that they were in the right place to do so. That means, I think, that we have to make sure that we have as varied a repertoire of assistance for people as we can devise, because people who need help for mental health and mental well-being will want to access that help in a whole variety of ways.

One of the ways in which we have been able to do more is by funding Mind Cymru itself—I think that was the latest announcement that we've made £10 million-worth of additional investment in mental health services during the pandemic—because Mind operates at a community level, so it doesn't provide services to people who have acute psychotic conditions, but it does provide help to people who are just looking for that bit of additional support and advice and guidance, where community-based services can be the most significant. In that way, we are doing our best to try to make those services as available as possible to break down barriers that people may feel, to make sure they get that crucial support.

Let me just put one point to the Member, however, because he's referred twice so far to the crucial need for people to get the support that they need: this Government, with others, has been lobbying the UK Government to make sure that 35 per cent of all families in Wales below pensionable age do not lose over £1,000 when the Chancellor withdraws the £20 a week that had been added to universal credit during this pandemic. I wonder if he'd like to add his name to that call today, because that is genuinely crucial support that families in Wales no longer know that they can rely on.