5. How is the Minister working with the Minister for Economy to ensure the Welsh Government capitalises on the Cymru men's football team's qualification for the 2022 world cup to improve public health through grass-roots sports participation? OQ58346

Officials are in early discussions with the Football Association of Wales to consider how we can take forward a range of programmes through 'Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales' and our proposed social prescribing framework. These programmes will include a focus on physical and mental health.

Thank you, Deputy Minister. That's a very encouraging response, because the Football Association of Wales recently shared with the Culture, Welsh Language, Communications, Sport and International Relations Committee—there's no way of saying that quickly, sorry—their submission to the Welsh Government regarding how we can grow football in Wales to improve the health of the nation. Their request was a £10 million investment per annum for a decade. And we know that, in Wales, despite our love for rugby, football is emerging as the No. 1 team sport in terms of public interest and participation, with powerchair and walking football becoming increasingly popular too. There is an opportunity, through the world cup, to inspire people of all ages and backgrounds to become more active and improve public health. You've outlined some of the things, but is there also going to be an active campaign to make sure that we capitalise on this? Thank you. 

Thank you, Heledd, and I entirely agree that the world cup gives us a really good opportunity to capture the power and enthusiasm of football to tackle some of the public health issues that we face. I haven't seen the paper that you refer to, but I will certainly ask to receive a copy of it.

Just to expand a little bit further on the work that's been going on, as I said, senior officials have met with the Football Association of Wales and are developing a set of ideas and proposals to consider further action, and that includes population-wide messages. We're also working closely with Sport Wales, including through investment in our Healthy and Active Fund, and with other national governing bodies, to consider how we can increase physical activity levels across Wales. Officials are also in early discussions with the FAW regarding a programme called Football Fans in Training—FFIT—which is a weight-loss intervention supported through football clubs, which has an evidence base in Scotland and England, and we're looking at whether we can roll out some pilots of that in Wales, harnessing the enthusiasm for football. As Members are aware, we've also got some children and families pilots operating across Wales, and our discussions with the FAW are also considering the potential of scaling up something called Footie Families, which supports children in learning a range of skills, providing opportunities for high-quality movement while inspiring parents. We've also, as part of these discussions, talked to the FAW about our social prescribing framework, which we're going to shortly consult on, as that also provides an opportunity for us to harness some of these issues.

Minister, I'm sure you'll agree with me that sport is extremely important for our young people right across Wales not just in terms of their physical health, but also their mental health. It's great for people to get out there in the fresh air and experience that. It really opens people up as well—the talking about their problems. You're talking about social prescribing, and actually getting GPs to more socially prescribe to make sure that our young people are accessing that to make sure it does help their mental health. But also, that needs to go into schools as well, to make sure that our schools are educating young people about healthy lifestyles to help their mental health. So, can you tell me what work you've done across Government to understand the impacts of mental health and sport on our young people?

Thank you very much for that question, James. This is absolutely a cross-Government issue. As you're aware, our 'Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales' plan is a cross-Government plan, with all Ministers making a contribution to what we're trying to do. Clearly, there's a really important role for education, and we are uniquely well placed in Wales with our new curriculum, with our area of learning focused on health and well-being, to really embed that understanding of health in schools so that our young people get the best possible start in life. Also, young people will be a feature of what we're doing through our social prescribing programme. I'm really concerned that that doesn't appear to be just something that is for older people, because we know that it can often be young people who experience the most loneliness.