Good afternoon, First Minister.

8. What is the Welsh Government doing to promote staff well-being within the Welsh public sector? OAQ(5)0615(FM)

Well, we do work closely with public sector employers and trade unions to promote staff well-being as an essential part of the delivery of good Welsh public services.

You will be aware that almost 8,000 staff members of the NHS in Wales were affected by anxiety, stress, depression, and a number of other psychiatric illnesses, in the year 2015-16, and the trend appears to be the same going forward. Aneurin Bevan Local Health Board created and filled the post of head of employee well-being, and Adrian Neal and his colleagues are making great strides forward in reducing staff absence and improving employee morale.

But, First Minister, this well-being position is not filled in all the Welsh health boards. Some created the post and then decided to remove it for budgetary reasons. Others have got the posts, but they are vacant—again, for budgetary reasons. Given the scale of the challenge that we face, and how difficult it is to recruit people into the Welsh NHS, I wondered if you might be able to outline what plans you could have to rectify this issue.

Well, a health and well-being programme board has been established, which oversees the programme and the collaborative agenda of NHS Wales in respect of improving staff health and well-being and reducing levels of sickness absence. All NHS organisations have achieved, or are working towards, the corporate health standard, and so we would expect all NHS boards to achieve that standard and provide the right level of support for staff, particularly with regard to their own mental health.