Thank you, Llywydd, and thank you to Plaid Cymru for bringing forward this important topic for debate. The Plaid Cymru motion today calls for

'stronger commitment, enhanced resources and measurable targets.'

As our amendment acknowledges, we are not complacent, but we do have a long-standing commitment to preventing and tackling the harms associated with alcohol use and a robust record of delivery.

Unlike elsewhere in the UK, we have protected and ring-fenced our funding over many years. This is further recognised by our increased investment in preventing and treating substance misuse, rising from almost £55 million last year to almost £64 million in 2022-23. As part of the Welsh Government's allocation to area planning boards to support the commissioning and delivery of local substance misuse services, we've increased both the children and young people and residential rehabilitation ring-fenced allocations by £1 million in 2022-23 to £3.75 million and £2 million respectively. Recognising an increase in demand for support, there are also plans to increase the children and young people's ring-fenced allocation in the coming two years.

In terms of targets, we have targets in place to measure referrals, access and treatment outcomes. Our record on access and treatment is encouraging, with statistics remaining above 80 per cent. In March this year, this went to just over 90 per cent. Referrals are more of a concern, which we will address, but have certainly been impacted by the pandemic. Having meaningful targets for measuring alcohol consumption is much more difficult, particularly as the data is self-reported. Instead, we need our public health messaging to help people recognise if they have a problem with alcohol and access the help we have made available as soon as possible. We know that the pandemic has disproportionately affected those with the most complex needs and vulnerabilities. We have therefore also doubled to £2 million our funding for services for people with housing and complex needs. This funding will also increase over the coming two years to a total of £4.5 million in 2024-25.

Addressing alcohol-related harms is a key part of our substance misuse agenda. The overall aim of our substance delivery plan, which was updated in response to COVID-19, is to ensure that people in Wales are aware of the dangers and the impact of substance misuse and know where they can seek information, help and support. And while we remain focused on delivering the current 2019-22 plan, we intend to explore, with a range of stakeholders this year, the need to refresh and refocus the actions for any new delivery plan post 2022. However, our engagement with stakeholders to date suggests that many of the current priorities remain relevant.

The factors behind the increase in alcohol-specific deaths are complex, and numbers will fluctuate from year to year. Every one of these deaths is a tragedy, and we absolutely recognise there is more work to be done. Deprivation is recognised as an important factor, and data from Public Health Wales shows that people from the top 10 per cent deprived areas in Wales are almost three times more likely to be admitted to hospital for alcohol-specific conditions than those from the least deprived areas. Reducing health inequalities, particularly as we emerge from the pandemic, will be a priority area of our work going forward.

We also know that finding the right job is one of the most important factors in helping people recovering from substance misuse. Our European-funded out-of-work service, which ends in August 2022, has helped over 18,000 participants recovering from substance misuse and/or mental health issues since it began in August 2016; over 46 per cent of these are recovering from substance misuse alone, or from substance misuse combined with mental ill health. Despite repeated promises that Wales will not be a penny worse off after Brexit, this funding has not been replaced by the UK Government. But we know that being in work is so important for many people's general health and well-being, providing a purpose as well as an income and can play a part in preventing both physical and mental health problems. Therefore, supporting people who are struggling in work and to get back to work is crucial. That's why this Welsh Labour Government will continue to invest in employment support services, including extending the out-of-work support service until 2025.

We recognise the vital importance of education and prevention when it comes to reducing alcohol-related harms. We're working to promote the UK chief medical officers' low-risk drinking guidelines, which aim to support people to make informed decisions about their drinking. Public messaging around minimising the health risks from alcohol were also a key part of our Help Us Help You campaign and encouraged people to reduce both the amount of alcohol they drink and how often they drink it.

Prior to the pandemic, Public Health Wales convened a national alcohol prevention partnership to develop collective priorities for reducing alcohol-related harms across Wales. This work will recommence in 2022-23, beginning with a focus on reducing the number of young people in Wales of school age who regularly drink alcohol.

We're also proud of our implementation of minimum unit pricing, which will play a key role in reducing the harms of alcohol. This is an area where we have maximised our devolved powers to take action on the World Health Organization's advice that action to reduce alcohol-related harms includes looking at affordability, accessibility and availability. The legislation came into force on 2 March 2020, and our aim is that its introduction will make an important contribution in tackling the health risks associated with excessive alcohol consumption. The intended effect of this legislation is to tackle alcohol-related harms, including alcohol-attributable hospital admissions and alcohol-specific deaths in Wales, by reducing alcohol consumption in hazardous and harmful drinkers.

Finally, our alcohol-related brain damage treatment framework is a key development. The framework is designed for health and social care providers to give guidance on how they should respond to those affected by alcohol-related damage.

So, as I have highlighted, we have shown a continued commitment to this agenda for many years, both in terms of support and finance, evidenced by the recent increase in funding of £9 million this year. But, as I said, we are not complacent. We will continue to work with partners on the prevention agenda and through supporting services to tackle the harms associated with alcohol. Over the coming year, we will also be working on our delivery plan commitment to develop a substance misuse outcomes framework, including reviewing performance indicators. Although we must recognise there are many complex factors behind these tragedies, I hope that the additional resources and focus we have provided for our services will help reduce alcohol-specific deaths in the future. I urge you all to support our Government amendment. Diolch.