Questions now from the party spokespeople. Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Siân Gwenllian. 

Thank you very much, Llywydd. Will the Minister provide an update on the legal steps that the Welsh Government is taking, or not taking, in response to the decision of the administrative court in the case of Driver v. Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council?

Thank you, Siân. I can confirm that the Welsh Government won't be taking a position on the Driver case that is happening in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area. FootnoteLink

Gwybodaeth ychwanegol at y Cyfarfod Llawn

I'm very grateful to the Minister for putting on the record today that you will not be challenging basis 2(g) of the decision. It will be a relief for pupils, parents and teachers in Rhondda Cynon Taf who have fought for the right to continue with the Welsh-medium education journey within a reasonable distance of their homes. I do very much hope that the council too will reconsider its position. This adjudication is a major step forward. I would like to hear from you, therefore, now that this is in place, how you are going to inform public bodies and others about the precedents arising from the adjudication, so that bodies do work consistently in accordance with the Government's vision for the future.

And, if I could remain with education, the 'Cymraeg 2050' strategy is clear that we need to transform the way in which the Welsh language is taught in all schools in order to reach the targets of the strategy, including in English-medium schools, and this is crucially important. The Welsh Language Commissioner highlights the fact that there hasn't been much work ongoing in terms of the Welsh language continuum, and, as a solution, he has recommended that there should be a requirement included in the curriculum Bill, which is currently going through our processes, for Welsh Ministers to introduce a code of practice on the teaching of Welsh. Would you support that recommendation?

Thank you. Just to make it clear that it is a requirement on all parts of local government to ensure that they do take into consideration the need to strengthen what's offered in terms of Welsh-medium education in their areas, so I do hope that all of the local authorities across Wales will understand that responsibility. And just to make it clear, in terms of teaching in schools that don't offer Welsh as a first language, I do accept that a lot of work needs to be done in this area, and that's why I have weekly meetings with my team, and this is something that is on the agenda on a weekly basis, because I do think that we need to move forward on this. 

What we've done recently, just to be clear, is we've worked and we've had discussions with the National Centre for Leaning Welsh. I think that they have a lot of experience, particularly now with the coronavirus, in terms of online learning, and I think that there are things that we can learn there, particularly if the skills that we hope to see in the schools aren't available, and I do think that we do need to take advantage of that capability that exists in the centre. And that's why what we hope to do is work with them, and I've had discussions with the Minister for Education on that subject. 

I don't think I heard you confirm that you were in favour of introducing a code of practice in relation to the curriculum Bill, but we will return to this issue at some future date, I'm confident of that. Introducing a code of practice on the teaching of Welsh in the curriculum would be an important step forward. And I do believe that there is a consensus developing across parties on the need for a statutory code, and hopefully we can work together to secure that. 

To conclude, I would like to touch upon the vulnerable positions of two of our important organisations, namely the Urdd and the National Library of Wales. The Urdd announced yesterday that they will continue to operate and innovate, as best they can, in terms of a national eisteddfod, but there won't be one held in the traditional way. And, in the meantime, other work streams of the Urdd, such as the residential camps, remain closed and that leads to a loss of income. According to the Urdd's evidence to the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee the organisation has lost half its workforce and could face debts of up to £18 million. I do know that your Government has provided £3.1 million in financial support for the Urdd, but is that sufficient, that would be my question.

And, in the case of the national library, they received £0.25 million in support from Government recently, but that was after you clawed back £200,000 from the library at the beginning of the pandemic. So, what assessment have you, as Minister, made of whether the Government's financial support is adequate to support these crucial organisations? Would you agree that we can’t allow bodies that have contributed so much to the national and linguistic life of Wales to simply wither away?

Thank you. Could I just state clearly that I’m very aware of the difficulties that the Urdd is facing? Of course, it’s a great shame as the Urdd have done everything that we’ve asked of them over the years to not be so reliant on Government funding. They know how to spend and raise money, but just not in this coronavirus period, and that’s why we have already, as you’ve mentioned, given them a great deal of funding to help them through this difficult period. But, of course, there is still a difficult period ahead and that’s why it’s a great shame that they’ve had to cancel the Urdd Eisteddfod. But if I know anything about the way in which the Urdd works, they will create something completely new that will raise the spirits of the nation during the period when they would normally have held the Urdd Eisteddfod. Of course, we’re keeping an open mind in terms of what’s possible in terms of practical support in the future.

The same is true of the national library of course. This, of course, is an institution of vital importance to the nation. I think that the library is aware that they have work to do in terms of reorganising the way in which they operate, but we do recognise, particularly after the recent report, that the budgetary position is a very difficult one. The budget will be announced before too long and we will see what happens in that regard. Thank you.

The Conservative spokesperson, Laura Anne Jones.

Thank you. Minister, following on from a question to the health Minister just now, I was very encouraged to hear that you're going out and talking to small businesses in your capacity. I want to talk to you about mental health and well-being, particularly of our small-business owners at the moment, who have been put through so much during this pandemic, creating heightened anxiety and mental health worries. They've really stepped up to the plate and delivered in terms of adapting their businesses and making them coronavirus safe, yet we are now seeing them battered again by these latest regulations coming into effect this Friday. Judging from e-mails and conversations I've had with small-business owners, pubs, bars and restaurants across south-east Wales in my region, there is great anxiety and depression, and that's very clear and very apparent in those e-mails and the conversations I've had, which majorly concerns me and, I'm sure, you. Research is also suggesting that these people aren't reaching out for help. So, what action is this Government taking, and you, Minister, to reach out to these business owners during these particularly tough time to ensure that they get all the mental health support that they need? Thank you.

Thanks very much. Of course, we are intensely aware of the mental health situation and we've put some significant support in, in particular to support employees. But you're absolutely right that we need to think about the business owners who've put money on the line, who've put their livelihoods on the line and are seeing those being threatened with the coronavirus.

We have discussed this in relation to the tourism industry and, as a consequence of that, I did discuss this with the economy Minister to see if we could put something specific in place. But, as you say, part of the problem here—and I'm afraid that, very often, it's men who don't come forward—is that we need to make sure that they're aware of the services that are available from the Welsh Government in these spaces. So, I will continue my discussions with the economy Minister to see how we can get this information out. But you'll be aware that a leaflet was sent recently to every household in Wales and there was some information in that leaflet on the support that was available in relation to mental health from the Welsh Government.

Thank you for that, Minister. I think the lack of money is one of the root causes of many mental health problems, as we know.

I'd like to talk to you about the mental health of children and young people. Schools act as a leveller, a level playing field, where, wherever possible, children are equal in that environment in terms of equipment, the clothes they wear, access to information. As you're already aware, young people have been going off in droves in whole year groups recently, especially across my region in certain council areas, so they're heavily reliant on home schooling. I'm concerned, following a conversation I had with one of the headteachers of a comprehensive school in my region, that she highlighted the fact that a number of children still couldn't access a device at home to enable them to do online learning and their lessons at home. This clearly is very worrying and has a mental health impact on those children. The Government, to be fair, has given lots of money to councils in order for them to get devices to children, but they're still, obviously, not getting to the right children, or to enough children, as the headteacher outlined to me yesterday, and this is a barrier to them getting the home-school learning that they need when they're off, obviously for health reasons and safety reasons. Please could you look into this, Minister, alongside the education Minister, as, clearly, pupils' mental health and anxiety will be affected because of this? Thank you.

Thank you. I think it's been a really anxious time for any young person, in particular when it comes to schoolwork and, in particular, those who were planning to sit exams. Of course, we have given substantial support as a Government to local authorities and, through them, to schools, to those people who haven't been able to access education online. Part of the additional problem, of course, is that you can give them the hardware but, actually, you need to make sure that the broadband coverage is in place and that they are able to access support in that way. So, I know that the Minister for Education is very aware of the situation, and if you've got examples of areas where it's not possible for people to gain access, I think it would be useful to send those on to the education Minister.

Okay, thank you, Minister. Just a really quick one, before I ask my last question, is that, in a school in south-east Wales, they sent regular questionnaires to see what the biggest barrier was to home-school learning, and it came back that actual devices, not broadband et cetera, were the biggest problem, because when there's a parent at home, or a brother or sister at home, using devices as well, they are deviceless, so to speak. So, it's about getting devices to those people particularly, but I'm happy to send you further information.

Talking about getting help, I want to talk to you about getting help to those who really need it. There's a peer mentorship programme—I'm not sure whether you're aware of it—which now has evidenced benefits. There's such a programme in the Aneurin Bevan health board that has many successes. It's so reassuring for people across the board with all sorts of mental health issues to be able to talk to someone who's been through similar experiences, as they have. And that's what this programme is all about. Also, I saw, when talking to the nurses and patients, that the families benefited hugely from talking to people who had been through similar experiences as well and found it very reassuring to see that those patients came out the other side. A drop-in rehabilitation centre with these sorts of services and an online facility, especially during these times when it's most needed and we can't reach people like we normally do, is very much needed in Wales. There's more work going on with this in England, but I think we need to look at it more in Wales because it's evidenced now that it's having great success. The main source of money is coming from lottery funding at the moment, Minister, and I'm just wondering if you could look into this as something that you'd be willing to take forward and maybe work with the Government on. Thank you.

I don't think peer mentorship programmes are new; I think there are examples of that going on, in various different guises, in lots of different sectors. I'm very much of the view that this is something where people can support each other and that experience can be transformational—just knowing you're not alone when you're in a dark place is in itself something that is very helpful. I think the mentoring support that is there for parents as well as young people, for parents to understand what their children are going through, is also something that I think we can and do encourage. And there are examples, as you say, of best practice that we can pick up, and certainly the iceberg model that we've seen in Gwent, being led to a large extent by Liz Gregory, is something that we do hope that we can roll out to other parts of Wales.