Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:31 pm on 26 May 2021.
John Griffiths, diolch yn fawr. We're very keen to get young people in particular back to outdoor activities. There is guidance already in terms of organised activities, in terms of how parents can safely watch children. I'm very keen that we as a Cabinet look at the issue of parkruns. Of course, that will be something that we will be taking into account in terms of the 21-day review. We, of course, have had these small outdoor pilots; we need to review those pilots. That's the purpose of a pilot—to see what was the consequence. If they come out in the place that we hope they come out, obviously we would like to see what we can do to release further those restrictions.
James Evans, croeso i'r Senedd. I would like to join with you to thank the teams who've done an absolutely remarkable job across Wales in terms of the vaccination programme. I think this is a demonstration of teamwork: it's the Welsh Government with the local authorities, with the health boards, with the military support, and, of course, many, many volunteers, and it really is testament to their great work that we are in the situation we're in today.
We're very keen, of course, to make sure that businesses can open as soon as possible. And it's not just for the businesses' sake; actually, you went on to talk about mental health. As the former Minister in that role, there's a relationship between these things. If people can't open their businesses, they are going to become anxious. You know, there's an economic consequence to them. So, there are lots of harms we need to consider here. It's not just a medical issue here; it's not just a health issue. There are lots and lots of other harms, and, of course, we consider those harms every time we make these decisions in terms of what we're going to release and how we're going to release.
Just in terms of what we have put in place, already you will have seen in the Labour manifesto that we have made a commitment to make sure that we are seeing more mental health support, which, let's not forget, has been ring-fenced—£780 million pounds of money ring-fenced specifically for mental health support. But we want more of that money to go to tier 0, tier 1 support—that is very early intervention. Let's get them the support quickly. That is what we are very anxious to do, but also to understand that 80 per cent of mental health issues start when people are children and young people, and we need more of the money to go to there. So, we're giving instructions now to the health boards for them to understand that that is the way we would like things to move in future. And we have given, of course, £40 million additional funding to address this issue. So, the issue of mental health is very much atop of Labour's manifesto.
Of course, Huw, on live performances, I know you've been engaging in this, which is great, and it's very much one of the points that is on my agenda. So, we're taking that very seriously, Huw. I heard some live music very recently in St David's cathedral, so it is possible. We need to look at what are the reasons and what the conditions are. I know we're doing a lot of work. We're Welsh, for goodness' sake; we love singing. We all want to hear singing again, so we've got to make sure that we are able to do that in a safe way. So, we just need to make sure we've dotted all the i's and crossed the t's to make sure that, when we get back to singing, we can do it with gusto and enthusiasm, as we like to as a Welsh nation.
And just finally, on the care homes issue, we have, I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear, updated our guidance on Monday in relation to care homes, which now means that you don't have to have two people who had to be registered before to go into care homes. Anyone can now go into care homes. That restriction has been lifted. Of course, they have to comply with guidance, but the fact that we've got 98 per cent of people in our care homes who've now had the first vaccine, and 92 per cent who've had both vaccines, means that there is a level of protection there that wasn't there at the beginning of the pandemic. So, we are comfortable with that, we now have to make sure that the care homes themselves are comfortable with that situation.