Student Mental Health

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 1:50 pm on 16 June 2021.

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Photo of Hefin David Hefin David Labour 1:50, 16 June 2021

I met with the National Union of Students Wales last week, and they've been running surveys amongst university students that find that 60 per cent of their members say their mental health is worse than before the pandemic and it's exacerbated social pressures, financial pressures and the academic work that they're facing. As a result, students are at a higher risk of developing mental health problems. I saw that the—. Well, last year, we welcomed that—the last term—the last Welsh Government introduced £10 million in mental health services during the pandemic, which had a great effect on university students. I saw your written statement this morning, which you just referred to, in which you said that the Welsh Government was committed to helping—and I quote—

'post-16 learners to progress to the next steps of their journey,' and provided a little bit of outline on how that would be achieved. But can I ask for a little bit more detail, then, on how post-16 mental health will be addressed as part of that strategy?