8. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on mental health support in schools? OQ61430

In my oral statement to the Senedd on 14 May, I stated good mental health will be the platform on which our education system will be built. The Curriculum for Wales, together with our statutory guidance on a whole-school approach to emotional and mental well-being, support this ambition.

The Deputy Presiding Officer (David Rees) took the Chair.

This question was prepared for me by a young person in Caerphilly who attends school and is in sixth form. She described how a member of her family has struggled adapting to secondary school due to social anxiety, and as a result started regularly refusing to go to school, which made her attendance drop below 50 per cent. The parent has regularly met and worked with the school and the local authority to try different approaches to encourage her child into school. Sometimes, this has helped in the short term, but overall, it hasn't. The parent has been threatened by the school with prosecution, despite doing all they can to try and improve the situation. Does the Cabinet Secretary therefore believe that there is more the Welsh Government could do to allow schools to provide more support for children and families struggling with mental health and attendance issues, particularly before it gets to the point of fines being imposed and parents finding themselves at the distressing point of risking prosecution?

Thank you very much, Hefin. I'm very sorry to hear about the difficulties that the young person you referred to is having. I'm sure you recognise that mental health is a top priority for me and for the Government. That's why, despite our financial constraints, we've continued to protect funding for our whole-school approach for mental health, which we are investing around £13 million in this year. The Minister for Mental Health and Early Years and I are continuing to drive progress on that. 

I do recognise, though, that there is more work to do. I think it's important to be clear that we've said that fines should only be used as a last resort. It's much more important to work with families, and fixed penalty notices should be the final part of a wider package of intervention and support strategies to improve attendance, and that should include support with mental health and well-being in line with the statutory framework we've put in place, underpinning our whole-school approach to mental health. Children do need to see school as a safe and welcoming place.

I should also say that we have seen an increase in the numbers of children and young people who are having difficulties attending school due to what we call EBSA, emotionally-based school avoidance, and our Welsh Government guidance on that asks schools to make sure that they've completed the assessments and take a graduated response to EBSA that involves early diagnosis, a whole-school approach, communication with families, and building on strong relationships in schools.  

Finally, question 9, Joyce Watson.