1. What initiatives is the Welsh Government undertaking to end the stigma around mental health in Bridgend? OQ57728

Time to Change Wales has been a major, sustained initiative, tackling stigma and discrimination faced by people with experience of mental health problems in Bridgend and around Wales. On 23 February, we announced funding to sustain the programme over the next three years.

Diolch. It has been inspiring to work with organisations in Bridgend to co-produce our upcoming Bridgend mental health pathway project—a single point of access for services that aims to improve accessibility and enhance collaboration between support groups across my constituency. I want to thank you, First Minister, because I am delighted to hear as well that the Welsh Government is extending the Time to Change programme. So, from Lads and Dads to Mental Health Matters, Men's Sheds and Bridgend Youth Council, it is about those people on the ground who are making a difference, improving and saving lives. The Time to Change programme is an example of how this Government is prioritising mental health, but I do want to stress the importance of recognising that mental health conditions range wider than what is often presented. From postnatal depression to obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorders, schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder, we must ensure that we work to destigmatise all aspects of mental health and that it's backed up with the funding to improve the lives of those suffering with specific conditions. So, First Minister, do you agree with me that all mental health conditions should be recognised and represented, and that more will be done to diagnose, treat and improve the lives of those suffering with all mental health conditions across Wales?

Well, Llywydd, I thank Sarah Murphy for that, and I congratulate all those of her constituents who are involved in that initiative in Bridgend. It reminds us of the importance of third sector and voluntary activity in the mental health field, backed up, of course, by investment from the Welsh Government. The mental health part of the health budget remains the highest area of spending in the Welsh NHS—£760 million this year—and extra investment in the draft budget, to be confirmed when my colleague confirms it later this afternoon in the final budget, the draft budget showing additional investment in mental health of £50 million next year, rising to £90 million in the third year of the budget. That does allow us to do what Sarah Murphy said, Llywydd, which is to invest in that broader range of mental health services.

If I could pick up, maybe, just the very first point that she mentioned, the mental health difficulties that are faced, sometimes, by women post giving birth. Since 2015, we've invested in specialist perinatal mental health services across Wales, so that there are now those specialist services in every health board in Wales, and £3 million goes into providing them. And in April of last year, just on the border with the Member's own constituency, we were able to open a mother and baby unit within the Swansea Bay University Health Board area, providing significant specialist perinatal mental health services for people who have the most significant difficulties of that sort.

Can I start by thanking Sarah Murphy for tabling this question and associate myself with a number of the organisations you've mentioned, Sarah? I'm aware of a number of them. And can I also add Bridgend Samaritans to that list as well, who I know do excellent work in Bridgend as well?

I think it's really important, and I welcome some of the First Minister's statements there about ending the stigma when people have a mental health issue, and that's clearly crucial, and one of the ways I think in which people might feel more comfortable coming forward and asking for help is knowing that there is support there when it is needed, and that's particularly the case for our young people. Unfortunately, in Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board, which covers Bridgend, it's disappointing to see that 63 per cent of referrals to the child and adolescent mental health service in the CTM health board have to wait over four weeks just for a first appointment. As we start to, hopefully, put the worst effects of the pandemic behind us, it's important to remember that it's been our young people, I would argue, that have perhaps suffered the most and have made the biggest sacrifices over the last two years. So, it's vital that when young people recognise they have a problem, that urgent support is there for them in their time of need. So, can I ask, First Minister, what steps are the Welsh Government taking to reduce CAMHS waiting lists in Bridgend?

I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. I agree with him about the importance of the work that the Samaritans do in all parts of Wales—the Samaritans in our capital city, based in my own constituency—and a remarkable service based almost entirely around volunteers that they provide to people, sometimes in the most desperate of circumstances. I agree with what the Member said about the importance of people feeling that there is support for them if they have to declare a mental health challenge, and that's why it is good to report that one in four people in the whole of the Welsh workforce are now employed by a Time to Change employer. So, that means that the employer has committed themselves to the actions that they can take to make sure that if people face a difficulty of that sort, then stigma does not prevent them from coming forward to seek the help that they need.

As far as young people are concerned, while for that small minority of young people who suffer from such a significant mental health challenge that they need a tier 4 or tier 3 service of the sort that CAMHS provide, for most young people who need help as they grow up through adolescence, it is those other services—those direct access service, provided by third sector organisations, provided by school counselling services, provided sometimes by online services that young people can simply access for themselves—that have the greatest possibility of intervening early in a problem that somebody might be experiencing, that don't have the stigma of formal mental health services associated with them, and that's where, as well as strengthening those very specialist services, the greater investment by the Welsh Government has been concentrated during the period of the coronavirus crisis.

Thank you to Sarah Murphy for bringing forward this question.

I'd like to associate myself as well with some of the words Sarah said about how mental health can show itself in many different ways. I'm sure the First Minister is aware of the event held before the recess by myself and Huw Irranca-Davies for Men's Sheds Cymru, highlighting the vital work men's sheds do across Wales within all of our communities. I know that it's a source of pride for many in my community that the Squirrel's Nest in Tondu was one of the first men's sheds in Wales. Both myself and Huw realised very quickly from our conversations that there is now a difficulty being faced by men's sheds financially, especially when considering the number of referrals increasing, not just from individuals reaching out off their own back, but also being encouraged to get in touch by GPs. I can't emphasise enough how important it is to have organisations like men's sheds in our community, and we've written to the Deputy Minister for Mental Health to express our shared concerns. But I would be interested to learn from the First Minister what assurances he can provide to organisations like Men's Sheds Cymru when it comes to financial support from the Welsh Government, and how they might be able to access the additional funding he mentions.

Llywydd, the men's sheds movement in Wales has been a remarkable success, growing sometimes from very local and enthusiastic individuals to what is now a movement to be found in so many parts of Wales, and a very important movement it is. We know that men are particularly vulnerable to suicide at different points in their lives, and men's sheds provide an opportunity for people to come together and gain that mutual support that is preventative in the impact that it has.

I'm glad the Member has written to my colleague Lynne Neagle. She'll be aware of the men's sheds movement, of course, herself, and where the Welsh Government is able to provide assistance, normally through grants that we provide to other organisations who then make those allocation decisions, I know that she'll be very keen to do so.