Can I say I'm very pleased to be contributing to this debate, as a member of the Children, Young People and Education Committee, although I wasn't a member of the committee when the original report was published? Can I start by thanking our Chair, Lynne Neagle? This, of course, has been my first term in the Senedd, and I've learned a lot from the way in which I've seen Lynne apply herself to this subject area, with passion, diligence, and speaking truth to power where required, all to seek improvements in services and provide vital support to others, particularly children and young people. So, thank you for that, Lynne.

I just want to cover two areas in my contribution. Firstly, and partly the area that Rhun has just covered, which is about the missing middle; and secondly, around psychological therapies. I think we do need to acknowledge the fact that the pandemic has heightened all our concerns and brought into sharp focus the monumental task that we still face as we consider the well-being of our children and young people. And, as with many issues that we've scrutinised in this report, there has been progress, which is always to be welcomed, but that scrutiny has also highlighted that further progress is still needed in a number of areas. But, overall, I do agree with the education Minister in her written reply to us, in which she says,

'I think we can agree that much has been achieved over the last two years.'

So, firstly, I'll just talk about the missing middle, and I won't repeat the points that Rhun ap Iorwerth made, much of which I do agree with. Instead, I think I'll just remind Members of what the Senedd said in that original 'Mind over matter' report in 2018. It talked about

'urgent work was needed to address the lack (and in some cases absence) of services for children and young people who need support but do not meet the threshold for specialist CAMHS'.

Now, I think it's fair to say that our recent update is more confident that progress has been made. During this Senedd term, we should see the frameworks develop and the staff appointed to help embed the culture of a whole-school approach to well-being; an approach that not only works in our schools, but also in the wider network of Public Health Wales and other public services, as we aim to deliver what Lynne referred to earlier on as the 'whole-system approach' to the mental health and well-being of our children and young people. If the Welsh Government deliver on their spring 2021 target, then that is progress that we can indeed welcome.

My second point is around psychological therapies, and the committee is of the view that, certainly, not sufficient progress has been made in that area. And while we welcome the Welsh Government's action to implement our follow-up recommendations on psychological therapies around ensuring that there are sufficiently trained therapeutic practitioners to support children and young people, we do need to see evidence of the development and implementation of the workforce plan for mental health that will deliver this.

We appreciate, of course, that there has been disruption to workforce plans and that work around prescribing trends was also delayed, due to the pressures of the pandemic. But the committee believes that it is important that the Welsh Government quickly re-establishes timelines for the work that has been delayed or interrupted by the pandemic. Indeed, some of that very work, which the committee originally recommended, may in itself provide answers to some of the additional pressures that will face the system as and when we slowly emerge from the shadow of COVID-19, and more fully understand its impact on our children and young people.

I believe that the inquiry that lies behind the 'Mind over matter' report, and the changes in services that are now happening, is one of the most significant achievements of this Senedd. But, as with all change, it must become embedded and the identified weaknesses overcome, because only then will the benefits of that whole-system approach to improving the mental health and well-being of our children and young people be fully realised. Thank you.