5. What measures are in place to promote the resilience of mental health services in Wales during the COVID-19 pandemic? OQ55968

We have invested almost £10 million of additional funding this year to support mental health, and this includes investment in tier 0 support to help reduce the need to access NHS services. We are also taking a cross-Government and multi-agency approach to reduce the wider impact of the pandemic on mental health.

I thank the Minister for that answer. Will she join me in commending the research carried out between Cardiff and Swansea universities, published last month in the much-respected journal Frontiers in Psychiatry? It's a single-nation study, reflecting on an earlier survey conducted in 2018-19, then comparing how people were feeling during the pandemic. It showed a three or fourfold increase in the prevalence of mental distress, with 50 per cent of the population reporting clinically significant levels of distress and around 20 per cent showing severe effects. The impact was particularly apparent in younger people, and we were talking earlier about the plight of younger people and their psychological distress. Quite clearly, there is huge pressure on mental health services now, and there will be one heck of a hangover, and we really must ensure that the appropriate level of resources and time here in terms of policy development is spent so that we have the best possible mental health services, both in the community and, unfortunately, those that are needed in the acute sector also.  

I think you're absolutely right, David. All the evidence that we've seen suggests that there's going to be a real problem down the road, unless we address it very early. And that's exactly what we're trying to do. We've put in £2.7 million of additional funding to provide immediate access to a really broad range of low-level mental health support. And it's clear that anxiety comes in lots of different shapes, and it's caused by lots of different things. One of those things is the economic situation, and that's not going to get any better any time soon. We know that there's a direct correlation between an economic problem and the incidence of mental health, and so we can almost map out what's likely to happen in future, which is why really addressing the issue before it becomes a big problem is, I think, the way to do this. 

Mental health issues, right from the beginning of the pandemic, we've said are essential services so there shouldn't have been any reduction in terms of support there. We're trying our best to reduce the socioeconomic impacts, most recently in relation to hospitality. There are a lot of young people who work in this sector, many of whom, perhaps, are on zero-hours contracts who won't have a great Christmas now as a result of the fact that we, unfortunately, have had to take quite drastic measures. But the least we can do then is to stand by them and to make sure that there is support for them when it comes to mental health. And then the other thing is to make sure that we are projecting and looking at what is likely to be needed in the future, and we are supporting health boards to make sure that they can start preparing for a very different approach in future. 

Minister, you will know I've recently written to you asking about the mental health impact assessments that have surely been carried out in advance of such momentous and long-term decisions to remove our civil liberties. I have long been of the opinion that the impact on our collective mental health will be huge. I'm particularly concerned about our young people, so what discussions are you actually having with the education sector about prevention of mental health issues in our schools? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm not sure if there's anyone who hasn't suffered some degree of anxiety during this pandemic, but it is, as you say, a particular problem when it comes to young people. And that's why we have had a very radical new approach to supporting young people and children in schools with mental health issues. There's been a £5 million programme that's been supported between my budget and the education Minister's budget, really looking at improving access to things like school support, giving the nurses in those schools access, giving that provision, really training the teachers. So, there's a whole host of work that has been going on within schools, and as I said earlier, we are now broadening that out to make sure that that fits in with a broader societal approach as well, where we'll be having early intervention to make sure that that support is given not just in school, but also more broadly in the community.