7. What is the Welsh Government doing to address the mental health and well-being needs of public sector workers in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire? OQ56327

We take the health and well-being of our workforce extremely seriously and encourage employers to provide a range of extra support during the pandemic. We are monitoring the impact closely and working with partners to provide immediate additional help to respond to people's changing mental health needs. 

I've listened with interest to your comments to I think it was Jayne Bryant and to David Melding. It's all about mental health and how we can keep our eyes open for people who are suffering. You will know as well as I do that organisations such as Mind have done endless surveys that show that public sector workers suffer disproportionately, take more time off work, and have greater mental health issues across the whole of Wales. I've had a number of e-mails from public sector workers in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire just saying how hard they're finding it to manage lockdown, to cope with it, like so many of us. I just wondered are there any programmes that we can put in place or are there any ways of Welsh Government being able to encourage public sector organisations to be able to really try to reach out to those who are working on their own, isolated at home or perhaps in a very busy home where they're finding it very difficult to do their jobs because of all the noise around them. They may have young children at home who aren't at school and the whole situation is getting to them. Because if you have a person in front of you or in the office just next door, you can have a much better feel for how they might be. It's very difficult to tell when you're on a Zoom call to somebody once a week. Is there anything the Welsh Government can proactively do to help public sector employers really look after those employees?

Absolutely. I won't dwell on help for health professionals, because that's a specific programme we've got in place, but we do have Healthy Working Wales, of course, which is a programme that lots of public sector organisations have already signed up to. I know all seven of the health boards and the Welsh Government have signed up to this, and many local authorities, including Dyfed-Powys Police. So, there are lots of organisations that have already signed up to that. What's happened is that there's been strengthened advice within that programme in order to understand the new context of the pandemic. What is important also is that there are a number of programmes and organisations in the Hywel Dda area that are able to help in this space. We've got lots of different programmes, including the healthy and active fund. If we can get people to understand the link between mental health and physical activity, I think that is really important that we encourage people to do that, and I know that there are projects across west Wales that are helpful in that sense. So, there are plenty of places people can go for advice. The first thing to do, I think, is to go to the websites of the health boards. We've asked them now to update their advice on those to make those much more accessible, much easier to read, and every one of the health boards has now done that. That should be easier for people to access now and they should get that local advice that may be suitable for their area.

And finally, question 8, Rhun ap Iorwerth, to be answered by the Deputy Minister.