1. Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's priorities for mental health support? OQ56299

Diolch. Our immediate priority is to work with partners to respond to changing mental health needs due to the pandemic. Our revised 'Together for Mental Health' delivery plan 2019-22 sets out a range of specific actions, supported by the additional £42 million for mental health in our draft budget to support this.

Thank you for that answer, Minister. Now, we know that serious traumatic incidents can have a serious impact on long-term mental health, and I have raised with you before my concerns that we are not reaching people who perhaps do not seek help through the normal prescribed routes, and I should say that is through no fault of their own. So, with that in mind, how do we proactively support people in my own constituency who have suffered the recent trauma of flooding, and may not even recognise or spot the signs that they are in need of support?

Thanks very much for, Jack, and just to make it clear that I'm very aware that actually those kinds of traumas that impact people's lives is something that has come across to me very clearly during my time in this post. And it is something that won't come and go; it's something that can last for a long time. So, a trauma-informed approach to mental health is absolutely central to what we need to be doing. I know when it came to the flooding in the Pontypridd area that Mick Antoniw wrote a report, and I was very pleased to be able to get in touch on that issue with the health authority to make sure that they were providing some support there. I did the same thing for Dai Rees when there was a flooding incident in his area. And, of course, I'd be very happy to do the same for you.

But I think it's probably worth pointing out that, in relation to Natural Resources Wales, they have sent out to all communities a newsletter, and they have put in that newsletter a call centre number—our call helpline—and a number for them to contact Mind, in addition to of course those people who are younger perhaps, that they should be contacting Meic, which is our support centre for younger people. So we have encouraged health boards also to make sure that they work with local agencies to ensure that there is access to these services. But if there are any specific issues you want me to take up, I'd be more than happy to do that, Jack, as I've done for others.

Afternoon, Minister. Minister, do you think it's possible for us to do more—for Welsh Government to do more—to reach out to people suffering, or potentially suffering, from mental health issues in rural areas? As I sit here now, by the wonder of Zoom, I can see through the window passers-by walking by in my village. But I spoke to a constituent earlier who lives in one of the more deeper rural areas of my constituency, and she hasn't seen a passer-by for months, due to pandemic restrictions. So, it just seems to me that there are people out there who perhaps aren't being reached out to as much as they could be. I know that your strategy on mental health has been looking at ways that we can reach out to these people, so could you give a particular emphasis on mental health in rural areas?

Thanks very much, Nick. And I'll be doing a speech on this very issue in the St David's festival that'll be taking place in the next couple of weeks. So, I'm very happy to be giving this issue some attention, because I do think that there are slightly different issues when it comes to mental health in rural areas, in particular for middle-aged men. So, very often, what we find is that they don't particularly want to go to GPs, for example, because everybody knows each other in these areas. So, whilst in cities the issue very often is the lack of connection, there is, very often, a connection in rural areas where everybody knows each other's business and sometimes they don't want people to know that business.

The other thing I've been doing is liaising very extensively with a lot of the farming communities. I'm very aware that there is a particular issue in the farming community, where of course a lot of people are used to working alone—and of course we're all going through a lot of the experiences that farmers have had to put up with for years and years and years. But there is a particular issue there that I think we need to focus on as well. But I absolutely agree that we need to make sure that those measures are in place. Of course, they're able to access the services that everybody else can access, in terms of call centres, online support, but I am very aware that there is an older community that may want that face-to-face support. And of course, we'll be looking to make sure that, when we come out of this very strict lockdown period, there will be opportunities through our increase in funding to the third sector, that there will be facilities for them to access there.

Question 2, to be answered by the Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, and to be asked by Huw Irranca-Davies.