Can I thank Plaid for bringing forward this debate this afternoon? I think it's a very worthy use of time this afternoon to be debating this topic. We haven't put forward any amendments to this motion tabled by Siân Gwenllian, because we agree with the motion as it's been tabled. We're not minded to support the Government's amendment, because it deletes important points of the Plaid motion, as Rhun ap Iorwerth has pointed out.

I wanted to use my time in this contribution to talk about some of the work of the Health and Social Care Committee's inquiry, which we launched just this week, actually. Our piece of work is focusing on mental health inequalities across different groups in society. We made a point, really, of not revisiting, perhaps, some of the other good work that's been done by previous committees; we don't want to repeat work that's been done. So, we're focusing particularly on the inequality aspects of mental health. The inquiry will focus very much on those who are disproportionately affected and look at what the barriers are that exist to accessing mental health services. The inquiry will also look at the extent to which Welsh Government policy recognises and addresses the mental health needs of particular groups.

I was very interested in the work of the Centre for Mental Health, which works in conjunction with a number of other bodies as well. They refer to the triple barrier. Particularly, when they're referring to the triple barrier, they're talking about the disproportionate risk that people have due to the inequalities generally in society. But secondly, and perhaps most importantly, groups with particularly high levels of poor mental health can have the most difficulty accessing services, and when they do get support, their experiences and outcomes are often poorer. So, as a committee, the work that we've launched this week—we'll ask for some written evidence first and listen to oral evidence later in the year, but we do want to get to the bottom of mental health inequalities across Wales. I don't think it is right, of course—and I'm sure we can all agree—that people in society are disproportionately at risk and struggle, just because they're in a particular category.

We know, for example, that children from the poorest 20 per cent of households are four times more likely to have serious mental health difficulties by the age of 11 as those from the wealthiest 20 per cent. Other groups affected as well are older people—85 per cent of older people with depression receive no help from the NHS, according to the study that the mental health centre has undertaken. On autism, 70 per cent of children or 80 per cent of adults with autism have at least one co-occurring mental health condition, and one particularly disturbing statistic is that children with autism are 28 times more likely to think about or attempt suicide.

Deaf people are twice as likely to experience mental health difficulties, and those with learning difficulties are three times more likely than average to have a mental health problem occurring as well. So, we do want to hear the experiences through this piece of work from real situations. We want to try and get the voice of those who are often unrepresented in society and use those experiences. I hope as a committee that we can make recommendations that help set a direction for the Welsh Government in terms of policy on mental health. So, diolch, Llywydd. I'm pleased to take part in this debate this afternoon.