5. Statement by the Minister for Education: Mental Health and Wellbeing Support in Educational Settings

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:43 pm on 23 March 2021.

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Photo of Suzy Davies Suzy Davies Conservative 4:43, 23 March 2021

Thank you for your statement, Minister. I think we'd all agree that this last year has been highlighting the human need for physical, mental, emotional and even spiritual well-being in order to function, let alone even live our best lives, and I think it's been especially true of our children and young people and their ability to learn, be it traditionally or in the myriad of ways that they've experienced during COVID. That includes their ability to be with their peers, not just adults, and a whole range of experiences, some of which may have been forgotten. So, my first question, I think, is: what plans have you considered for using the summer holidays to enhance well-being in a way that can be accessed by all children and young people? 

Members, of course, have been long concerned about the mental health and well-being support for our children and young people—it's not just this year—which is why some us have been a bit nervous about the future of the Together for Children and Young People programme, which has been such an important driver of change, albeit with clipped wings, if I can put it like that.

Minister, I'm happy to acknowledge the effort that you and your department have put into this framework and I'm pleased to hear that it can be read across to the FE and HE institutions, and I also welcome the early interventions that you reference in your statement, which I hope have been successful. So, my next questions, I suppose, are: how would you measure the adherence to the framework as we go forward, and how will you measure the success of the results of adhering to the framework?

You refer to counselling sessions, which is very welcome, but you commented in the past on counselling being unsuitable for younger children. Early intervention in education settings helps counteract the effects of adverse childhood experiences and reduces the need for support in later life, so what's being considered for our youngest children, and how does the framework empower staff to push back against that medicalised intervention that you mentioned in your statement and that concerns us all?

And then, finally, yes, this is an NHS-led programme, but it still feels pretty much like an education-led programme. The First Minister referred earlier today to the statement on mental health and well-being, jointly signed by both Eluned Morgan and Vaughan Gething. So, how strongly is the work of Together for Children and Young People and this framework featured there in that statement? What resources will flow into the framework from the health department? And do you agree that it will be impossible to measure the impact of that health department investment in this route to improving children's mental health and well-being, when we continue to have these combined impact assessments for the Welsh Government budget, which do not separate adults and children and which continue to disappoint both the CYPE committee and the children's commissioner? Diolch.