Item 6 this afternoon is the debate on the Children, Young People and Education Committee's report on 'Mental Health support in Higher Education'. I call on the Chair of the committee to move the motion. Jayne Bryant.

Motion NDM8292 Jayne Bryant

To propose that the Senedd:

Notes the report of the Children, Young People and Education Committee ‘Mental Health support in Higher Education’ which was laid in the Table Office on 29 March 2023.

Motion moved.

Diolch, Deputy Llywydd. Before I start, I would like to say that throughout this debate we will be talking about issues around mental health. Talking and being open about mental health is important to break down stigma, but I know and understand that it can be upsetting for some.

I’m pleased that today’s debate is, I believe, a first in the Chamber: two Government Members responding to a single committee report. Due to the cross-cutting nature of the report and our recommendations, we felt it was important to hear both from the Minister for Education and Welsh Language and the Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Well-being. I’m incredibly grateful that they were both willing to take up our invitation for this innovative step, and that the Llywydd was also supportive. So, diolch yn fawr. As committees often look at issues broadly and holistically, resulting in cross-cutting recommendations, I hope today’s joint response is the first of many.

Finally, before I talk about the report itself, I'd like to thank all those who have engaged with the committee, in particular, the students who responded to our survey or who we met during our visits to higher education institutions. We know that it can be difficult to share some of those experiences, but we hope that you can see the issues you've raised reflected in the report and its recommendations. I'd also like to thank all those who provided written and oral evidence to the committee, and the university staff who helped facilitate our engagement. We had such high-quality written and oral evidence, which certainly made it easier for the committee to identify and draw upon robust recommendations. And it's also important that I put on record, on behalf of the committee, our thanks to the clerking team, led by Naomi Stocks. Naomi and the team have really been excellent. And I’d also like to thank my fellow committee members for working together collegiately and sensitively on an issue that I know is important to us all.

Like many other committees, we use our strategic plan to help us prioritise the work we do. There are two particular priorities that shaped our decision to do this work: the emotional and mental well-being of children and young people; and ensuring our scrutiny is timely and constructive. Issues around student well-being and welfare were raised during our scrutiny of the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill, and we stated that we would be likely to revisit these issues at some point during this Senedd. We decided to do this work now because it provided us with an opportunity to help inform development of the new regulatory framework for higher education. The establishment of the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research is a big change for post-16 education, and we want to play a constructive role in the commission’s future, and felt that doing this work at this point could shape both the Welsh Government’s and the future commission’s thinking.

Now is the time for a step change in support for students' mental health. We were given examples of good practice in the evidence we gathered, and of attempts to work across sectors and across geographical boundaries to improve student mental health support. But supporting students with their mental health is complex for many reasons. We made 33 recommendations, which we strongly believe, if fully implemented, would bring about that step change to deliver timely and comprehensive support for students.

One of the clear themes from the evidence was the need for a common framework that sets out a baseline of what a student can expect in terms of seamless support for their mental health, regardless of where they are studying in Wales. This does not mean that all institutions must provide the same type of support, because another clear theme of the evidence was the need to tailor support to the context of the institutions, different student groups and to individual student need. Such a framework would balance the need for a consistent offer against the need for tailored support to meet individual needs. It was clear from the evidence we received from institutions that they believed such a common framework was both necessary and deliverable.

This is exactly what recommendation 15 calls for, and I'm really pleased that it has been accepted. In responding, the Welsh Government highlights that the new registration and funding conditions will enable the commission to set out clear expectations, and that the commission will take account of our recommendations in developing these conditions. In doing this, the commission will build on the existing Stepchange framework and the work already being done by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. This, they say, will effectively constitute the common framework the committee has called for.

However, I would like to know how this package of work will be communicated to students. Will all this work be pulled together into a single place that clearly sets out exactly what the framework is? Will it be easily available to students, and set out in ways that helps them understand exactly what they can expect? Will it provide them with the ways and means to challenge if their institution is not providing this?

Closely linked to this recommendation is recommendation 25, which calls for the recently piloted mental health university liaison service in Cardiff and the Vale to be rolled out across Wales. The evidence from the sector was that this pilot has been a real game changer. We also heard from others across Wales who would love to see similar projects in their own areas.

Early evaluation seems to suggest that this approach really does fill a much-needed gap, and addresses some of the other issues raised throughout our report. These issues include the need for close working between the NHS and higher education sector; development of shared language, thresholds and definitions; and development of clear information and data-sharing protocols.

It is again promising to see that this recommendation has been accepted in principle, and that HEFCW has begun to plan for a wider roll-out, pending the evaluation of the pilot. The Government has said that rolling out this pilot nationally will require longer term funding, which will ultimately be a decision for the commission. I'd urge the Minister to do everything to help support the roll-out of this approach across Wales. And I imagine this is an issue that the committee will continue to monitor closely as the commission is established.

While these two recommendations were at the heart of our report, other recommendations covered issues such as the need for improved data and intelligence, so that we can better understand the extent of the issues faced by students and what interventions work. This need for improved publicly available data continues to be a theme in much of our work.

We also recommended specific support to be developed for international students and healthcare and social care students, who may face particular challenges as well as specific barriers to accessing support. And I'm pleased, again, that both these recommendations have been accepted.

Other recommendations covered the impact of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis; the need for more mental health training and awareness for both staff and students; and the need for sustainable funding that matches the level of need. We also reflected on the Health and Social Care Committee’s work on mental health inequalities, and the Welsh Youth Parliament's mental health and well-being committee report, 'Young Minds Matter'.

Before I conclude, I also want to reflect on another report that informed our considerations: Mind Cymru’s 'Sort the Switch' report. It looked at the transitions between child and adolescent mental health services and adult mental health services. And this report, and the incredibly powerful evidence session with some of the young people who were involved in the report, led to recommendation 33. And this calls for full implementation of the recommendations in 'Sort the Switch'.

I know that that evidence session will remain with me and the rest of the committee for a long time. The young people spoke with great power about their experiences and how they wanted to improve things for young people who follow in their footsteps. Clearly, not all students are 18-years-old and not all students will face transition to adult support services at the same time as going to higher education. But this is the reality for a number of young people, and managing both transitions effectively will play a vital role in ensuring they have a successful time in higher education.

I would like to thank the Deputy Minister for her engagement with us on this issue, including coming to give evidence to the committee and her recent correspondence. And while, as a committee, we're disappointed that the recommendation has been rejected, I'd like to ask the Deputy Minister if she would be willing to commit to provide a further update to the committee, outlining which recommendations from 'Sort the Switch' don’t align with the programme of work already under way to improve transition services. And I appreciate there's a very small amount of time today in which to do that, so, after this debate would be helpful too.

I would like to once again to thank everyone who contributed to this work. It’s clear that there is a commitment from all in the sector and the Welsh Government, but we need to ensure that this work is delivered at pace and results in real change on the ground so that students, no matter where they are studying or what their own personal background is, get the right support at the right time, when they need it. I look forward to listening to the other speakers today, and to hearing from both the Minister and Deputy Minister, who are so critical to delivery of our suite of recommendations. Diolch yn fawr.

I'd first like to start by thanking and paying tribute to our fabulous committee Chair, Jayne Bryant, our brilliant committee clerk I see up there, and the whole of our CYP team, as well, of course, as my fellow committee members for enabling this report, as well as, of course, those who provided evidence, particularly our young people who added such value to our report. I agree with our Chair; it is really, really positive that both Ministers are going to respond to this debate today, so thank you to them.

The mental health of our young people is something that we all, as a committee, share concerns about, so we are all thankful, I know, to have carried out this review. Our committee broadly found that the extent of the mental health issues among students in higher education has been increasing in recent years, which is worrying, not just for educational outcomes, but, more importantly, the well-being, of course, of our young people. One in four students reported having diagnosed mental health issues, and a further one in four reported undiagnosed mental health issues. Most concerningly, UCAS statistics have shown a 450 per cent increase in applicants disclosing a mental health condition as part of the application process, a trend echoed by Cardiff University, who have seen an 89 per cent increase in students declaring a mental health condition during the application process.

The report identified a widespread concern from stakeholders that there were significant data gaps in Wales, as they often have to use UK-wide data to identify what issues students are facing. It is crucial that we have a Wales-wide data set, not just UK-extracted data, so we can get a better understanding of the picture here in Wales.

When it comes to the pandemic effect, it is clear that mental health issues, of course, predate the pandemic, but they have definitely being exacerbated by it, for example impacting the ability to socialise, to work and afford university. We have seen Universities Wales and the Royal College of Occupational Therapists highlight concerns about social development. This is something I believe we need far more research into, as we found in committee, so we can truly grasp the full severity of it, and it was clear from our evidence gathering that it has been significant. The pandemic, of course, has not just affected students, but also staff. The impact is unquantifiable, and there needs to be an all-encompassing approach when addressing this issue.

When it comes to transitioning to higher education, as our Chair has just outlined, our report has highlighted the need for more to be done earlier in the application and admissions process to support these transitions. There needs to be better flagging of mental health support on open days, along with higher education institutions providing programmes for students prior to starting that promote health and well-being. So, I'm pleased to see the Welsh Government's commitment to providing twice yearly regular information and any available data on the roll-out of the whole-system approach in pre-16 education, and that they will take forward the recommendation from the post-16 education sector to consider ways universities can work with the local post-16 colleges and schools to support learner mental health in advance of the transition to higher education.

Our report found that the increasing volume and complexity of cases are placing a strain on the ability to support students and that there are significant issues with training for those practitioners who, either directly or indirectly, deal with student mental health. They expressed the importance of appropriate, timely training being made available to staff within a provider. There is a need for national framework to improve mental health across the board, and it's imperative that the Welsh Government publish universal guidance on how to address the mental health deficit. It is clear that this is missing, or at least currently lacking.

Finally, overall, there is a lot of work to be done on ensuring we address the current mental health crisis in Wales. We need an all-encompassing approach that is copied and used across the board so we don't see that variation of provision across Wales. I'm pleased to see the Welsh Government agree with most of our proposals, but I'd like to see this Senedd regularly updated on the process of implementation. There is a lot of work that needs to be done, but there are also a lot of quick wins that Government can make now to contribute towards more positive mental health, because our young people's well-being matters.

I'd like to declare an interest, namely that my husband is employed by Swansea University and a member of UCU. I'd also like to echo the thanks already given. This was very timely and revealed the unique challenges faced by students in terms of their mental health and well-being, which of course have intensified because of the pandemic, and also the difficult economic climate.

The evidence was very clear. According to NUS Wales, we are in the midst of a mental health crisis for students here in Wales. In all universities, the data and the anecdotal evidence was consistent in terms of the significant increase in the number of students who need support, and also an increase in the number of students who were in crisis when they needed to access support.

Our main finding, I think, was that there wasn't a consistent level of mental health support for students in all parts of Wales, and therefore, that every student couldn't make the most of their education in university. Most of our recommendations relate to how we can tackle that issue. It is disappointing that the Government hasn't accepted in full those recommendations, particularly given the increase in the numbers and percentages of students registered in the nine universities and three HE institutions regulated by HEFCW that declared that they had a mental health issue.

I’d like to thank the students that shared their experiences in such an honest way with us. Some of those experiences were entirely heartbreaking and caused real concern about how the potential of these students is undermined and limited. It is heartbreaking on a personal level, of course, but also something that will make us poorer as a nation.

But it was encouraging, despite the frightening statistics, to hear about effective solutions that did make a difference, such as the mental health university liaison service pilot scheme, which was being implemented in the Cardiff area, which showed clearly how we could close those damaging gaps that too often exist between the provision of support services and support in the health sector. This recommendation is one of many that are accepted in part rather than fully, because there are funding implications that will, in time, become a responsibility for the new tertiary education and research body. I encourage the Government to prioritise this work in terms of planning and funding, and I'd like to hear a commitment today from the education Minister on that.

In terms of solutions, working more effectively and closely between health and education across boundaries is crucial. Some of the recommendations that we make call for systemic changes, but there were some issues that appeared simpler to resolve; for example, we heard from a student who said that she needed three different letters from her GP, all of them costing £15, because the wording wasn't in accordance with what was needed by the education provider in accordance with their policies. So, I would like to know from the Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Well-being whether she'll tackle these practical issues within the health service that just add to the mental health burden, and also the economic burdens faced by students

One of the sessions, as we heard from the Chair, that had the greatest impact on me was to hear from young people who are part of the 'Sort the Switch' Mind Cymru campaign. Their experiences were varied, but they spoke with one voice in feeling that the system was being imposed upon them and that their voices weren't being heard. It was very disappointing, therefore, to see that the Government had rejected our recommendation to accept the 'Sort the Switch' report’s recommendations, and I would like to understand better, Deputy Minister, the rationale for this. The response to the report says that all of these requirements are not consistent with current work programmes. So, my question is: well, why is that the case? I wonder whether you need to look at those work programmes as a result of this.

And finally, I was pleased to see that the Government accepted our recommendation that the Government and the new tertiary commission should work in social partnership with HE institutions to ensure that working conditions don't undermine staff and their ability to provide effective support for their students, because Orla Tarn, the president of NUS Wales, told us very powerfully that you couldn't pour from an empty jug. That is to say that staff in our universities, who are already facing stress and anxiety because of unfair working conditions and salary, aren't best placed to provide the support that their students need. The dispute, as we know, is continuing and indeed is intensifying, with HE institutions reducing salaries for staff who are taking part in the perfectly legal boycott of marking and assessment, which is disproportionate and unjust. So, education Minister, how are you working as a Government to resolve this dispute, which is likely to break that jug into a thousand pieces? Thank you.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'd also like to echo the thanks given. Not to duplicate what my committee colleagues and other Members have contributed, I'd like to raise two points during today's debate that have really worried me since our work of compiling and publishing the report.

The first is the universities' perception of how easy it is for students and young people to find mental health support provided by universities. I was fortunate to meet with a number of university mental health staff and students. I'd like to thank them for their time. We discussed their experience providing and accessing mental health support in university. The picture painted by the staff proved vastly different to the experience of the students, especially for those students with disabilities and additional learning needs.

The staff were upbeat and positive, outlining the numerous adverts pointing towards channels students can use to access support, which was in complete contrast to the students, who felt it was unclear to whom and where they could turn to access support—so much so, they set up their own support group off campus.

To ensure students who need mental health support don’t miss out in future, it would be beneficial for the Minister to have constructive conversations with our further education sector regarding how they reach students and young people. An annual or biannual health and well-being survey that includes mental health may prove fruitful.

The second point I’d like to raise is regarding international students. In Rhondda alone, dozens of international students tell me they find themselves in desperate situations as a result of deception and neglect by their universities. Students are being recruited on a lie, and are left to fend for themselves on arrival. Can you imagine leaving your home to study in the UK with the promise of accommodation for you and your dependents only to find you’re left with a one-bedroom flat, having to rent a house in this current climate or pay for an Airbnb, with no support from the university?

These students have no recourse to public funds. If it wasn’t for volunteers like Natalie and students like Esther, who have been volunteering their time day and night to support these students and their families with accommodation and food, they would be left with nothing.

These people only find themselves in this situation as a result of empty promises from the university. This inevitably takes its toll on their mental health. But trying to access further support from the universities has proved futile—so much so that I was told by one of the students they wouldn’t think twice about finding the nearest beach, walking into the sea and never returning.

People cannot live like this, and I’m ashamed that their Welsh university has led them to feel this way. I would urge the Minister to demand change from our universities, demand that support is stepped up for the students who have arrived following their lies, and demand that students arriving in the future are fully informed of what awaits them on arrival. Diolch.

I'd like to also share the comments of my other committee members in thanking our clerking team and also our Chair, Jayne Bryant, for excellently chairing the committee, and also to all those young people who fed into this inquiry as well. Before I start my main contribution, I just wanted to mention the 'Sort the Switch' evidence session that we had here in the Senedd. I think that's probably one of the most powerful evidence sessions I have taken since I've been a Member of this place and even when I was a councillor. I felt so compelled that day to apologise on behalf of Welsh politicians for the way those young people had been treated. I did feel ashamed to be a Member of this Senedd in the way that we had been letting those young people down.

But what I thought was also important about this debate was—. It was highlighted by stakeholders and a number of young people that this was an issue that we needed to look at, and I know from the Deputy Minister for Mental Health, who was here when she was the committee Chair of the children and young people's committee, that this was something that was clear in the 'Mind over matter' report that came forward, and I'm pleased that the Deputy Minister is going to be responding to this debate today.

What was clear during the evidence session was that data is lacking across our Welsh universities, and I think if we are going to deliver that change that we need, universities and the Welsh Government need to have that data to hand, so that we understand how many young people are struggling across our universities to make sure we can put that support and help in place, and that was one of our recommendations in the report.

What also became apparent were the issues facing our international students. I went on a visit with committee member Sioned Williams to Swansea Glyndŵr university, and we heard directly from international students there about the challenges they were facing, mainly because of cultural issues and not being able to feel supported to come forward to disclose an issue, because if they disclosed something, they weren't quite sure how that would be treated by their families back home or other students there. So, there is a massive piece of work that needs to be done to support our international students right across Wales to make sure they are supported and get the help that we need.

Another issue that I thought came through the report was the transition from students going into higher education and those students not feeling that they were supported as they were coming through. A lot of those students who currently had mental health conditions were not disclosing that to the university, mainly because they didn't feel there was the opportunity to do that, and actually that the mental health element of the induction was a five-minute conversation at the end. That was one conversation that we did have, and it was, 'If you've got a problem come and see me at the bottom at the end,' and that student didn't feel they could actually go there, because half the class, who were there, would think that they had a problem, and that's just not the way the do that. So, we do need to make sure that we are supporting our young people through the transition into HE, and I know that was another recommendation in our report.

What I thought was clear from the whole inquiry was the need for cross-departmental working between the education Minister here and the Deputy Minister for Mental Health. I'm pleased that recommendation 11 was accepted by the Government, and it would be very good to learn what work the Deputy Minister has started in that working group and to see how you're going to improve the actual mental health support that our young people are getting in our higher education institutions in Wales. I was disappointed that the Government did not fully accept recommendation 13, where we did call for that whole-system approach in HE, because if you bring everything together, it would actually help deliver a better service for those young people in our institutions, and I'd like to know a bit more from the Government of why they actually don't think that is actually needed across our institution in Wales.

Another thing that stood out for me was actually the understanding between higher education institutions and our health boards about how they work collectively together to help people, because another piece of evidence that we heard was that the different thresholds of level of intervention and support were different between higher education institutions and the health boards, and I think that really does need to be ironed out, because we cannot be expecting our lecturers and teachers in universities to actually become counsellors and social workers for students when actually the support they need is through our health boards and professionals trained there to deliver that support. So, I would like to know what the Welsh Government is doing to make sure there is more synergy between those two areas.

So, overall, I think it was clear that doing nothing is simply not an option. We have a duty to support young people in our higher education institutions across Wales, because their mental health is very, very important to their educational attainment, but we need to support them to become fully rounded individuals to get that good-quality education they need and the support they need in higher education, and also to our teaching staff as well, to make sure that they are also supported and trained properly to help people who come forward to manage those young people who need the help they need. Diolch yn fawr iawn, Dirprwy Lywydd.

I'd like to begin by also thanking our superb Chair, Jayne Bryant, and also the clerking team and my colleagues on the committee. I think that we all worked incredibly closely together and with genuine individual and collective passion for the subject matter during this inquiry. I'd also like to thank every single person and individual that contributed during the course of the inquiry. In particular, I'd like to thank those young people, who, as Jayne Bryant has already said, spoke with us with such clarity and purpose, and with such insight and power. Their contribution was enormous, and we are very, very grateful for the candid discussion that took place during the course of the inquiry.

I'm just going to make a few points, if I may, Dirprwy Lywydd. Firstly, preparedness for transitions—transitions of any type—are absolutely vital. And I say this as somebody who experienced mental ill-health as a consequence of a lack of preparedness for higher education more than 20 years ago. Now, our report outlines how to improve and enhance learner preparedness, informed again by the voices of young people who contributed to the inquiry. And I hope that, if the Welsh Government embraces and really implements what we have presented, preparedness will soon reach the point that is required for seamless transition into higher education.

Now, I do share the disappointment of others concerning the Welsh Government's rejection of recommendation 33, which was formed, shaped and informed very clearly by young people themselves. I'm sure Ministers would agree that the voice of young people should be at the heart of policy making, wherever and however policy affects them. So, I would like further reasoning, as Jayne Bryant has requested, for rejecting recommendation 33. And I'd also urge Ministers to meet with those young people who gave evidence as part of 'Sort the Switch'.

Now, finally, I don't think that any committee member really expected Ministers to agree to our suggestion that both Ministers respond today. That you are responding together I think shows how the Welsh Government is genuinely working on a cross-portfolio basis, and I hope that your initiative sets a very healthy precedent for others in Government to follow. Diolch. 

Thank you to the Children, Young People and Education Committee for bringing forward this very, very important debate to the Senedd this afternoon. As the health spokesperson for Plaid Cymru, as part of the Health and Social Care Committee, I, like so many of you, have spent a great deal of time discussing mental health in so many different contexts. And I'm very eager to extend that discussion to different contexts too. But mental health in this context today is one that strikes a particular chord with me, not because of my own personal experiences, but because of the appalling experience of a family in my constituency. 

Mared Foulkes was a student in her second year studying pharmacy in Cardiff University when she received an automated e-mail by the university telling her that she had failed her examinations and that she wouldn't proceed to her third year. The news was so disappointing to this young, intelligent, bright woman, the way that the news was shared in such a cold way, the feeling that the support was so insufficient, that Mared saw no other option but to take her own life. I remember Mared as a very young girl, the same age as my eldest daughter. This event didn't just shatter a family and a friendship group; it was news that broke hearts across the community on Anglesey. Everyone was affected by the sadness of losing a young woman who was so talented, so full of potential, under such terrible circumstances, and so many remember her. 

It then became clear that the automated message was incorrect and that she had, truth be told, passed her examinations, and that the original e-mail was sent in error, which makes this story even more heartbreaking. But Mared's case, as with similar cases, is testimony to the failure to fulfil a duty of care. When universities accept young people into their institutions, they have to ensure that they understand that they are very, very young people—not even 18 years of age very often, as we've heard this afternoon—several of them are moving away from home for the first time, and many of them learning how to live independently for the first time. And the universities have to be there to support them through those changes. 

Mared's case, and how the news was shared, without anyone from the university there to support her at the time, how the news that's so important to the lives of our young people was released without being checked, are all examples of a failure to hold that duty of care at a sufficiently resilient level. The feelings run as high for Mared's family as they always have done, and always will. Whilst I welcome the fact that universities are now discussing these issues more openly—and the committee's work has driven that openness—there is still so much to do. I know that Mared's family is determined that the recommendations made as a result of events at Bristol university will be implemented, so if there are concerns about the well-being and welfare of a student, they will be acted upon and families informed. I know that there are different views on how that model should be adopted, but parents and carers have to be as sure as possible that they send their children off to a caring environment when they go to university.

I'll mention very quickly some of  the elements related to health in the report. I'm very pleased that the Government is open to the idea of passports, to share information with regard to mental health without having to go through many barriers. I'm also pleased that the Government has made produced a report on CAMHS waiting times for every health board and that development plans are being drawn up. These are positive developments that I think are to be welcomed. But, for us to see the changes that we do want to see, we have to take action in every area within universities, and place the welfare and mental health of students at the heart of every single decision, so that cases such as Mared's aren't repeated here in Wales again.

I call on the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles.

Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd, and I'd like to thank the committee for bringing forward this important debate and for the contribution of the young people to the inquiry. The committee is entirely right that we must ensure that students have the support that they need, to maintain good mental health. That's why we will be working to ensure that every university has the necessary resources to support student mental health, including counselling services and psychological support services.

We welcome the work of HEFCW, in partnership with the sector, to develop a strategic approach and to incorporate health and well-being, including mental health and safeguards from suicide in their policies and practices. We've just heard from Rhun ap Iorwerth just how important that work is.

The committee's report expressed concerns that students were not accessing everything they are entitled to financially. Earlier this year, we announced an additional £2.3 million to support universities' health and well-being strategies. We all know how financial pressures impact on mental health, so HEFCW were asked to prioritise developing and promoting financial services and advice, and to work together with student unions in reviewing the support provided. We are committed to supporting day-to-day living costs for students, and I'm sure Members will all have seen, and been pleased to have seen, that we were able to increase maintenance support by 9.4 per cent for the next academic year.

The committee report highlighted the importance of support for transition to higher education, and both James Evans and Ken Skates have raised that again in today's debate. We recognise the challenges faced during transitions between stages of education, which is why we've funded all universities, including the Open University, to work collaboratively to develop University Ready, a unique set of resources on making the transition into higher education. As the committee recommended, we also commissioned evaluation effectiveness of previously allocated COVID-19-related funding for post-16 education, and we await the outcomes of this report.

The establishment of the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research gives us an opportunity to confront the challenges facing student mental health across both further and higher education. Addressing the point that Sioned Williams made, expressing her disappointment that we haven't accepted all recommendations in full, we've been mindful, in our response to the recommendations, that the opportunity to take further action will fall, in part, to the commission when it's fully operational next year. We're also conscious that, during the passage of the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022, the committee itself stressed the importance of ensuring that the commission operates at an arm's length from Welsh Government, which obviously we agree with as a Government. But I'm sure that the task of addressing the questions that Jayne Bryant raised, and also some of the points that Sioned Williams asked about, will be important considerations for the commission.

Nonetheless, it's because of the challenges identified by the sector and campaigners regarding student mental health that, last year, we were the first nation in the UK to legislate to ensure that tertiary education providers have proper processes, services and policies in place to support the welfare, well-being and safety of students and staff. The new registration and funding condition will be developed by the commission, and we anticipate that, in doing so, it will implement a number of the recommendations in the report, including sharing best practice, encouraging the delivery of appropriate training, and improving processes for disclosure and recording of student mental health conditions, all of which have been touched on in various ways today.

Regarding the point that Jayne Bryant raised in connection with recommendation 15, we expect that this will create a common framework for mental health support across tertiary education, making it clear to students the baseline that they can expect from providers in this area. I should say as well that the commission will also play an important part in ensuring greater co-ordination in service provision between providers in education and healthcare services. Buffy Williams and James Evans made an important point in relation to international students. Universities have a responsibility to ensure that information and advice provided by contracted agents is clear and up to date, so that prospective students can make fully informed decisions. This is a matter that I've met with the vice-chancellors to discuss. We are also working with HEFCW to ensure that international students are aware both of their rights and their responsibilities before accepting a university place, so that those decisions can be made in an informed way.

Over the coming months, we will look forward to taking forward the majority of the committee's recommendations, to ensure that students receive all the support that they need.

And now, I call on the Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Well-being, Lynne Neagle.

Thank you, Deputy Llywydd. Can I thank you for the opportunity to speak in this debate, and can I also take this opportunity to thank the committee for their work on this important inquiry? The Minister for education and I have been taking a joint-ministerial approach to this. We have our joint oversight board, which is focused on delivering a whole-system approach to emotional mental health and well-being in schools, and I also recently convened and chair our ministerial higher education, further education mental health advisory group, to explore opportunities to enhance the offer within higher education and further education settings, and to inform the development of our successor mental health strategy for Wales.

I was pleased to see the recommendations from the committee that recognise the role of this group, and also the recommendation that post-16 students are an integral part of our new mental health strategy, and I'm happy to reaffirm that commitment today. I'm committed to continuing to strengthen our policy in this area and sustaining our investment in mental health to ensure that everyone, including students, can access support when it is needed. Next week, I will be making a statement on the implementation of our 111 press 2 service for urgent mental health advice and support. This new service is transformational, and I've asked officials to ensure that information is provided to the higher education and FE sectors, so that they can raise awareness of this and other mental health support with their students. This is one important development in relation to improving access, but I do, however, recognise that, for students, more work is needed. We have accepted in principle a range of recommendations to help students access primary care and to share health information, and several Members have made reference to that today.

Given the shortage of time that I've got, I'd like to use my remaining time to just respond to a few of the points that were made directly in the debate. Several Members raised the mental health university liaison service, and that recommendation was accepted in principle because of the work with the commission going on. But just to assure the Chamber that I have visited the service; I think it is an excellent service. I think there is something there about holding on to those young people, and we know that the transition to university is a time of vulnerability for young people, and we've both restated in our response our commitment to seeing that service rolled out. I think it is important to recognise that the success of the service in Cardiff also depends on the partnerships that exist with the local health board. So, that's something that we're going to have to actively work to replicate. 

Laura, you referred to the reporting on the whole-school approach work. Just to clarify for the record that what we've committed to do is give annual updates to the committee on that, in line with the academic year. I would reiterate that we offered the committee the opportunity to send the Chair to be part of our new whole-school approach and whole-system approach delivery board, which will receive detailed updates on all these areas of work, and that option is very much open to the committee. 

James, you asked for an update on the working group. It's early days for the working group; we've met twice. The focus is on trying to establish some quick wins around the issues that we've highlighted, but also, vitally, to identify issues in the new strategy. 

If I can just turn now to 'Sort the Switch', Ken said that there's nothing more important than the voices of young people, and I absolutely agree, and that's why I came so quickly to the committee to listen to what you had heard from those young people. We also commissioned our own work from Tros Gynnal Plant with young people, which gave us the same messages. And I was absolutely clear with the committee that we know that there is more work to be done on transitions, and I am 100 per cent committed to doing that work. We've had the workshops with the health boards. I am going to be meeting young people to talk about the young person's passport, and I give you my commitment that we will improve transitions from children to adult mental health services.

Just to say on the rejection of that recommendation that 'Sort the Switch' is a very important report, aligned with the other reports that I referred to, but the recommendations were much broader than our current work plan, which is being prioritised to focus on those areas that will have the most impact. And an example of that is the recommendation around extending statutory advocacy, which is something we want to do but we can't do as an immediate priority.

I also wanted to let the committee know that officials are working closely with Mind Cymru, and they, in fact, support our current work programme. And, in fact, since the publication of their report, has refocused this ask of Welsh Government into four key asks: to listen to and act on the voices of young people in specialist CAMHS, and we are doing that; to make sure national guidance is delivered, and I was clear to the committee that this is about implementation and driving that implementation now; to support young people when they leave specialist CAMHS; and to change the way services are run to better involve young people's voices. And I believe the work that we're doing and the assurances I've given the committee about monitoring and a new framework  to monitor delivery in this area will make sure that these things are delivered.

And just to assure the committee and Members in this Chamber, we are absolutely determined to get this right, and I would have taken the committee's hand off if they had made a different kind of recommendation, but hopefully that has clarified our position on that. Diolch.  

I call on the Chair of the committee, Jayne Bryant, to reply to the debate. 

Diolch, Deputy Llywydd, and thank you, once again, to everybody who's taken part today in this debate. It's really very much appreciated, and I know that, for so many Members—or, I think, all Members—in this Chamber, it's something that we all very much care about. I realise that I don't have a lot of time to go through all of the points that have been made today, but we have heard from—. We started off hearing from Laura who talked about the importance of the number of undiagnosed and diagnosed students who are presenting at universities with mental health conditions, and the importance of the data sets to get that better understanding of where we are as well. So, thank you for that contribution, Laura. 

Sioned mentioned the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research and some of the opportunities there, as well as mentioning the positive examples that we have heard about, and as we highlighted so strongly in our committee report and our recommendation on the mental health university liaison service. We thought incredibly well of that and we look forward to seeing how that progresses—very closely we’ll be following that.

We also heard then from Buffy, who talked about international students, and Buffy spoke very passionately about some of the experiences that international students have shared with her. This is something that, as a committee, we also heard from others on as well, and I was glad to hear the Minister touching on that in his response as well.

James mentioned 'Sort the Switch' and the powerful voices of those young people who we all heard, and also the visits that all Members went on to speak to young people across Wales. I think that was something that we took very seriously, and we’re very grateful to those young people who spoke to us at their place of study as well. James also talked about the cross-departmental working as well.

Rhun—very grateful for your contribution, and also for sharing the tragic circumstances of Mared’s death. I really appreciate you bringing that to us today, and our condolences to Mared’s family and her friends. Also, the importance that universities are out there to care and support, and I think that’s something that universities must remember—to put the mental health and well-being of their students at the heart of everything as well.

Thank you, then, to our Ministers, who both responded. As I say, they were very grateful for today, and this is a first—we don’t often have firsts, I feel, in the Chamber, but today was one of those. Thank you for your detailed responses in the short time that you both had, so we do appreciate that. The Minister for education talked about a strategic approach, and also how the commission provides an opportunity now, and also about the baseline that students will come to expect in terms of mental health and well-being, and what universities offer. Thank you for the words you said around international students as well, because I think that is really important.

Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Well-being, again, thank you for talking about the joint ministerial approach. I think that nothing shows that more than today’s response. And the importance, again, that everyone, including students, needs to know what support is available, and that they get that support when they need that support. We look forward to following that mental health university liaison service, and we will be keeping a close eye on this. I can’t say enough how much we feel as passionately as you about how good it is, and we look forward to that rolling out, hopefully. We hear what you’ve said about the work that needs to be done on transitions. We feel that and share your commitment on that, so diolch yn fawr, and thank you to everybody for contributing today. Diolch yn fawr.

The proposal is to note the committee's report. Does any Member object? No. The motion is therefore agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.