7. Will the Minister make a statement on the level of mental health support that will be provided to the people of Pembrokeshire for the next 12 months? OQ56129

I’m pleased to report that the Hywel Dda health board has worked closely with stakeholders over the past few years to develop its mental health transformation programme and they have reflected the changing mental health needs of the community in the updated framework.

Well, I’m grateful to you for that response, Minister. You may be aware that the online well-being and mental health counselling service for young people has been launched by the Hywel Dda University Health Board, and this digital service is a huge step forward. Young people will be able to receive anonymous support in counselling and peer-to-peer services, as well as to access a broad range of self-help materials. Minister, what discussions have you had with the health board on this service? Can you tell us how the Welsh Government is promoting this support among young people across Pembrokeshire? Also, can you tell us one specific mental health service improvement that has taken place since you were appointed Minister with responsibility for this area?

Thank you very much. I meet with the health board regularly and I did have a meeting with them to hear what their intentions were for transforming mental health. I'm very pleased to see that they have taken these steps that are targeted at young people. Kooth has proved to be of assistance in other areas already, so it’s good to see that being developed. I do know that Public Health Wales has certainly been supportive in ensuring that people are aware of the assistance available to young people. One of the first things I did on appointment to this post was to ask Public Health Wales and our team to ensure that we target that information at areas where young people could access it—so, we ensured that it was on Tik Tok and so on, because there's no point putting that information in places where we as adults might see it; we also need to ensure that we take it to young people. So, that's a thing that I have ensured has happened. I think the fact that people now have an awareness of what is available and that it's available on all health board websites, and it's more clearly available, the fact that I am entirely clear that we must make far quicker progress—and that’s why I have established this new group in order to ensure that we do drive forward these policies that are already in place, but we’ve also ensured that an additional £40 million is available for this important area.

Thank you, Minister.