Minister, I'd like to congratulate you and welcome you to your post. I know you and I worked very closely when I was a member of Powys County Council, and I look forward to working closely with you now.

Minister, I and my party welcome the continued relaxation of the COVID regulations here in Wales. With COVID-19 numbers at a record low, all nations of the United Kingdom have moved away from lockdowns and towards a reopening of our economy as we recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The people of Wales, and in my constituency of Brecon and Radnorshire, have made huge sacrifices to ensure the damage of COVID was limited as much as possible to protect our communities and the most vulnerable people in our society. They spent months in lockdown, not seeing loved ones, and unable to live the lives they'd worked so hard to build. Thankfully, because of the UK Government's vaccination programme successfully being rolled out across all four nations, we are seeing people's liberties being restored, and I must commend the Welsh NHS and my own Powys Teaching Health Board for the great roll-out of the vaccination programme, which has enabled us to be in the position we are now. However, Governments of all colours must be very careful before trying to take these freedoms from the people of this country again.

I was pleased to hear my fellow MS Russell George raising the points earlier about the reopening of the hospitality sector. It's vital that our businesses are now given the freedom they need to trade successfully. Overzealous regulations will impede these businesses from being able to achieve the sales and trade they need in order to create wealth and pay taxes that we vitally need to fund our public services and our NHS.

An area of great concern for me—and many at present—is the state of the nation's mental health. Many people have suffered from isolation over the past year, with lockdowns playing a significant role in the deterioration of people's physical and mental health, and most of those people have been left to suffer in silence with no support, or big delays in backlogs in the support for those people who've had the courage to ask for help. Suicide rates in Wales were rising even before the pandemic and they've continued to do so. Men make up 75 per cent of suicide victims in Wales. Although I am sure that the Welsh Government took significant time to consider the potential rise in suicide before they brought in their COVID regulations last year, I wonder if the Minister could outline how she and the Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Well-being intend to tackle this huge problem in Wales. Your Government has promised to increase support for those suffering with mental-health-related illnesses, but surely the Welsh Government would have considered the impact on people's mental health before they brought in COVID regulations early last year, and would have been told this by the medical and scientific advisers, that there would be a huge spike if lockdowns were to continue to be imposed. So, can you tell me, Minister, what additional support has currently been given to support those suffering with mental ill health?

And finally, Minister, in your closing remarks, perhaps you can outline how you and your Government will ensure that, if we were ever to bring back any new regulations, people's mental health would be a top priority, as any decisions on future lockdowns and firebreaks could make the current mental health crisis in Wales worse. Diolch, Llywydd.