Back in the spring of 2018, Welsh Government commissioned an independent review of eating disorders services, as they were then, and that review, submitted to the Government in late 2018, found a system geared towards providing care for those who had already become severely ill rather than on early intervention. It found significant variation in the availability and quality of eating disorders treatment across Wales; gaps between services rather than care that was integrated; often families weren't being informed, weren't being supported or empowered through the process of treatment.

The review set out an ambitious vision of a world-class service focused on prevention and early intervention, identifying and providing quality treatment before people become severely ill in every part of Wales. So, where are we now? What did Beat find in its three-years-on review? Well, whilst some progress has been made in expanding and improving eating disorder services over that three-year period, Beat would argue that this has been uneven, continuing the inequity documented by that original eating disorders services review. I'll tell you about one young woman who saw her GP in my constituency, and found the GP to be very sympathetic and understanding and eager to help, but who told her, 'Please register where you're at university', because that GP had no faith in the likelihood that her young patient would be able to access support at her home address. And that is totally, totally unacceptable.

The eating disorders services review called for treatment to be accessible at an early stage, with the removal of referral or eligibility criteria. In some areas, new specialist teams based in child and adolescent mental health services had been established, some health boards had developed or expanded adult community eating disorders services. But, in some areas, access to specialist treatment is still restricted to those who have already become severely ill and isn't available for those with certain types of eating disorders, such as binge-eating disorder.

So, our motion today calls specifically for an end to that variation in service provision, another postcode lottery that is putting sufferers in some parts of Wales in particular at a disadvantage. Welsh Government's amendment deletes that, and instead points to a general commitment to continue the improvements of eating disorder services across Wales, and I haven't denied that there have been improvements.

There is reference in the Government's amendment to the need for increased investment. Again, our motion calls for that too, but where the Government's amendment is vague, the motion calls for specific actions to ensure that an increase in mental health funding happens year on year in a five-year drive, as we portray it, to push up the resources available for treatment of eating disorders among other mental health issues.

We call for more to be done to hold health boards to account for their investments in eating disorders, but, crucially, we dig down, we call for the publication of a new framework for eating disorder services, including timelines and targets, and we'll support the Conservative amendment, which addresses the issue of timescales and timely reporting too. We need a clear map, a clear map towards providing that early invention that I said is so important.

There are significant gaps in the data that health boards currently provide on waiting times. There doesn't appear to be a standardised system in place across Wales to consistently measure and report the full waiting time from initial referral, if that referral takes place at all early enough, to the start of specialist treatment.

We need to prioritise prevention too. There needs to be a focus on investing in the workforce. And on integrated care, the eating disorder service review explained that early intervention and evidence-based treatment require an integrated approach with good communication and collaboration between services. In Beat's survey of health and care professionals and volunteers, lack of integrated or collaborative working with other health or social care services and lack of integrated, collaborative working with schools, colleges and universities were commonly identified as restricting the ability of their teams and their services to meet the current demand for eating disorder treatment. There is such a long way to go.