Questions now by the party spokespeople. The Conservative spokesperson, David Melding. 

Diolch yn fawr, Cadeirydd. Minister, you'd have heard in our joint session with the Youth Parliament the emphasis they place on well-being and good mental health. Many of them will soon be entering the workforce, so I'd like to ask what plans are in place, as we move towards the end of the lockdown, to support workplaces that promote well-being and good mental health.

Thank you very much, David. I can assure you that we've put a lot of work into—. In particular, when we come to the workforce who are on the front line, we've made sure that we've put a lot of protection in place for them, but we've gone much further than that when it comes to Working Wales. So, we have a programme, Working Wales. I think about 35 per cent of businesses and public sector areas, they have signed up to this, and they have made a commitment to really stand by their workforce to make sure they get rid of the stigma relating to mental health, and they are adapting what is happening in that space in relation to COVID. So, I'm very pleased to see that that's happening. 

And, of course, the other thing we've done is we've continued to fund Time to Change, which is very different from what's been done in England, unfortunately. I think it was a huge mistake on the part of the Conservative Government to cut the funding for Time to Change just in the middle of a pandemic. It was a real shame, because, actually, the one thing that we've done in this pandemic is we've talked about mental health in a way that has now become absolutely accepted. Everybody understands that it is a societal issue that we all have to take seriously, and I'm very pleased to see that happening, and that support in the workplace is absolutely really being driven alongside that project that we have in the Welsh Government. 

Well, Minister, I commend the change in attitude that's taken. I speak as someone who has for many years—in fact, throughout my service here—worked with a mental health condition. And would you commend, as I do, charities like Mind, and in particular Mind's workplace well-being index? That's a key tool, it seems to me, for healthy workplaces. 

I do want to shift focus now. As many people have been dislocated from their jobs—they've been on furlough for long periods of time, and alas some have now lost their jobs and they suffer the stress triggered by isolation. As unemployment rates are predicted to climb, though I know we did see a recent fall—and let's hope that continues, but the prediction is that unemployment will increase in the next year or so—what measures will be in place to promote mental health and well-being resilience in training and back-to-work programmes?  

Thanks very much, David. I think, just to pay tribute to the incredible work that Mind has been doing over the years, and we're very pleased to be funding Mind to really run lots of the projects that we're involved with in Wales—. And I pay tribute in particular to Sara Moseley, who will be leaving the organisation in the next few weeks, for all the work she's done with us in recent years.

Of course, mental health and well-being in the workplace is something that we all have to take very seriously. I do think that dislocation that you talk about is something that we have to take seriously. I'm very interested at the moment—. I'm reading a book about Johann Hari about lost connections, and I do think that that's something that we need to understand. It's the connectivity that is so important when it comes to mental health. 

The one thing that I can assure you, David, is that we, as a Government, are very aware that this is not just a health issue, that actually the relationship between mental health and socioeconomic issues is absolutely one and the same. And we are really fearful of a possible downturn when it comes to the economy and the potential increase that that may cause in terms of mental health issues. And that's why we're working very closely with organisations across Wales who give support in that space to make sure that, when we're giving advice when it comes to employment, we're also making sure that we are giving advice and pointing out where people can go to for advice when it comes to mental health services. So, I'm very pleased to see that, and I would encourage people to make sure they call our call helpline or access our online facility, SilverCloud. 

Well, thank you for that answer, Minister. I do think there will be a lot of work to do in various training and back-to-work programmes in the future, because many people have suffered real trauma in the way they have been forced to leave the workplace or their traditional work has been taken away from them. 

My final question, however, is that COVID has changed also the patterns of work, sometimes permanently, it seems to me, and we've seen this in much of the public sector. And I just wonder how the Welsh Government will ensure that, as the civil service and public agencies shift to greater home working, for instance, this does not reduce the level of support and constructive supervision needed to maintain good mental health and well-being in the workplace. We've seen a societal shift in this area, it seems to me, but it is one that needs careful management if we are to have maximum well-being.

Thanks very much, David. Absolutely, that pattern of working has, I think, changed forever; I don't think we'll be going back to the patterns that we had before and certainly, as a Welsh Government, we've got a commitment now to work towards that 30 per cent of the workforce working from home. So, that's a significant shift. And you're absolutely right: just because people are working from home, it doesn't mean that they don't need support. In fact, they may need more support because they are less connected. So, we are making sure, certainly from a Welsh Government point of view, that we're offering that support. What's really heartened me, though, is that the private sector have really started to understand this now. They've understood that, actually, when it comes to their workforce, their productivity is going to decrease if people have mental health issues and that's why they are putting support in place as well. 

I was very pleased to meet up recently with a group of employers from the private sector, who are really focusing on this issue, making sure that the kind of support that they're putting in place for their workers is really listening to the requirements that people are asking for. So, I do think that we also have to be sensitive to the fact that, actually, there may be people who find it very uncomfortable to work from home. You think about some people, in particular, maybe in domestic abuse settings, it may be very, very difficult for them. So, we need to make sure that we keep these lines of communication open for people and provide that option to get back to an office, if that is the way that they want to go in future.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Rhun ap Iorwerth.

Thank you, Llywydd. Will the Minister outline what steps the Welsh Government has taken to secure access to mental health services during the pandemic?

Well, we have ensured that that access is available and that it's still seen as something that is an essential service within the NHS. Of course, demand for services has increased during that period and that's why we have provided far more funding into this particular area. We've provided an additional £1.5 million to target that help at help in our communities, through the third sector. And I think, for me, that's a new emphasis that we must provide in order to take the pressure off the NHS, wherever possible, and to provide that care where it will be more sustainable in the longer term, within the community. 

I'm of course pleased to hear the Minister say that services and access to services are crucial. We're all agreed on that, but it's true that many people are having difficulty accessing the support that they need. If you look at Stats Wales data, we see that the numbers referred to mental health services at a local level reduced by over a quarter in the nine months to December, as compared to the previous year. The number of assessments fell by around a quarter too and the number of therapeutic interventions fell by 10 per cent in the same period. So, although we are hearing that these are crucial services, there are too many people who can't access them. So, what additional steps can the Welsh Government take in order to ensure that people who need that support can access it?

Thank you. The data published today does demonstrate that we have only just missed our target of 80 per cent of assessments being carried out—I think it was 78 per cent that we reached. So, I do think that it's positive that we were able to reach that level although there had been a huge increase in demand. One thing that concerns me is that the data refers to those under the age of 18 and that's below target and that's something that's concerning, but of course we've put a number of measures in place to provide far more support within our schools. And, of course, in the summer, we will be rolling out a new system where there will be early intervention in order to support young people. So, I do very much hope that we will be focusing on those, particularly young people, as 80 per cent of mental health problems, as we know, start among the under-18s.

Well, I'm pleased that you referred to young people, because, as you said, the stats demonstrate that young people do suffer more. And we know that the pandemic has had a very grave impact on the mental health of people and that young people have suffered more than anyone. Early access to care for young people is particularly important in trying to prevent problems from becoming more acute in the longer term, and that's why we in Plaid Cymru are talking about having this network of well-being centres for young people, where they can access mental health support immediately.

Now, you've referred to the data, but will you commit to looking in detail as to how we can make sure that that data is changed the next time it's published, and put a very clear plan in place that will note what support should be available and how that could be accessed, and also ensure, in addition to the additional funding allocated over the past 12 months, that mental health services, in primary care specifically, are given the resources necessary in order to cope with the demand now and in the future?

Thank you, Rhun. Well, of course, the figures that came from that survey conducted by the children's commissioner raised major concerns for us, the fact that 67 per cent of children between 12 and 18 had said that they felt sad some of the time or all of the time, and of course that is a cause of great concern to us. That is why we have targeted much of our work over the past few months in this area, and I want to pay tribute to the children and young people's committee that has done so much work in this area and have assisted us in terms of our direction of travel.

I do think that the additional support and the additional funding that will be provided to assist in schools—and I do hope that that will help—but we must ensure that that does link up with the early help and enhanced support. So, a new framework will be put in place in the summer in order to ensure that we do co-ordinate the offer available in school and the offer available within our communities, not necessarily through the NHS, because I'm very keen to ensure that we do use the third sector to assist us in this area too.