2. How is the Welsh Government providing mental health support to young people in Alyn and Deeside? OQ56952

I thank Jack Sargeant. Llywydd, mental health support to young people in Alyn and Deeside is provided through a range of services, from preventative and early intervention through to specialist services for the acutely ill. Supporting schools to improve emotional and mental well-being has been a particular focus of policy and service development in recent years.

Diolch yn fawr, First Minister. As you know, this is a key priority for me, as I understand it is yours too. And I'm delighted that, on Friday, I had the chance to visit ysgol Saltney Ferry to see first-hand their work that they are doing on the well-being of pupils in their school. And, First Minister, it has become the first school in Flintshire to scoop up the well-being award for schools, and it's a great achievement, and one that formally recognises the mental health support the school offers to its pupils, to its staff, the parents and carers, putting emotional well-being at the heart of school life. And I think that's something we all could learn in everyday life. First Minister, do you agree with me that the school deserves real praise for their work, and will you commit to asking your officials to look at what they have done in order to secure and share best practice right across Wales?

I thank Jack Sargeant, Llywydd, for drawing attention to the fantastic work that is going on at the Saltney Ferry school, and I congratulate all those associated with the school for the work that they are doing. As it happens, I was able to read an account of the award that they have won. And when you see what the school says about how it has gone about safeguarding the mental health and well-being of its pupils, you really do see a very impressive array of actions that they've taken: an open-door policy, in which any member of staff, any student, any parent or carer knows that they will be welcome to come and have their concerns thought about and responded to, and the many imaginative ways in which the school has found to allow young children, particularly, to find a way of having their voice heard. The headteacher of the school said that the purpose of all the things that they do in this area is to make sure that their young people feel supported, engaged and motivated. And it's no wonder at all, having read what she had to say, that the school has been successful in being awarded that well-being award.

Flintshire's child and adolescent mental health service, CAMHS, is based in Alyn and Deeside. I continue to receive casework where children are denied autism diagnosis by Flintshire CAMHS because they've adopted effective masking and coping strategies in school, although they then melt down at home. In these cases, the council then blames poor parenting, with children even taken into care. Although the families in these cases are then forced to obtain expert independent diagnosis, confirming their children are on the autism spectrum, the council fails to identify and agree with them the support needed by their children and themselves. How will you, therefore, ensure that staff in public bodies properly understand and implement their new duties under your Government's autism code? How will your Government monitor this? And how will your Government respond to the recommendations in May's final Welsh Government social research report, 'Evaluation of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHs) In-Reach to Schools Pilot Programme: Final Report', including that,

'The Welsh Government should consider the feasibility of identifying and mapping the skills and competencies required by staff performing different roles within schools'?  

I thank the Member for that question. As others will have realised in listening to it, it is a complex area in which the difficulties that some young people face and experience can be masked by coping techniques that they develop for themselves, and where it isn't always easy for members of staff to identify the difficulties that a young person is experiencing. I'm very pleased to confirm, again, Llywydd, that, as a result of the report into the in-reach pilot in schools—the CAMHS in-reach pilot—that the Government has found the funding to extend that pilot to all local authorities in Wales. Part of what the pilot does is to try and make sure that front-line staff, who are not themselves experts, as they can't be expected to be, in every aspect of a child's mental health or development, have better training so that they are aware of the sorts of issues that Mr Isherwood has mentioned, and, where they feel that those needs require further and more expert forms of help, that they are able to make sure that those forms of help are quickly mobilised for that young person. So, I do think that the in-reach scheme, which was powerfully endorsed in that interim report, does have some of the answers to the dilemmas that the question raised, while recognising the complexities—the genuine complexities—there are in being able to respond to such a wide variety of needs.