Written question WQ82899

Our joint Ministerial task and finish group on the whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing was set up in 2018 to accelerate our work in this important area.

It brings together the key strategic partners in education, health and the wider public and third sectors to promote the health and wellbeing of children and young people. I jointly chair the group with my colleague the Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing Lynne Neagle and we are both committed to drive progress on this agenda.

Since the launch of our whole school approach framework on 15 March 2021, we have confirmed the availability of £9m for the current (2021-22) financial year to support its implementation across Wales.

Of the available £9m, £2.75m has been allocated specifically to support learner wellbeing including funding to extend and improve school counselling provision in the wake of the Covid19 pandemic; funding universal and targeted interventions in schools; and training teachers on their own as well as children’s wellbeing.

Following the publication of the evaluation of the child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) school in-reach pilots (which sees dedicated CAMHS practitioners providing consultation, liaison, advice and training in schools) we have also made £5m of the £9m whole school approach budget available to support the rollout of the pilots nationally.

Implementation of the new framework will be key to its success and that is why we have made available funding of £360,000 to Public Health Wales to appoint implementation coordinators to work with schools, local authorities and other partners to support implementation locally. A key deliverable will be to establish local steering groups to drive the agenda regionally.

We have also commissioned Cardiff University to review our whole-school approach to support ongoing implementation and evaluation. An evaluability assessment is currently underway, which will examine the evidence and gaps in evidence to support our work and will report later in 2021.

More generally, in terms of promotion and raising awareness, a communications plan has been developed with the aim of engaging learners and the workforce in communicating the framework principles and encouraging partners, schools and stakeholders to share our ‘assets’ and key messages

An animation, aimed at children and young people has been developed to sit within a dedicated You Tube playlist (Embedding a Whole-school Approach to mental health and emotional well-being - YouTube). This includes case studies, including teachers from schools across Wales explaining what a whole school approach means to them.

As we move from promotion and awareness-raising we are developing further plans to make sure the framework is being used as intended and is having the intended impact

The plan will include and build on: (a) Strategic impact: how we evaluate the goals, aims, vision and objectives of the framework, informing current and future programmes and activity; and

(b) Local impact: coproduced activity with stakeholders, reporting from the PHW implementation coordinators, who are supporting schools, local authorities and other partners locally to implement the framework and work with commissioners, providers and recipients of support to explore what further help, support and resources they feel is needed.

Ensuring the framework is fit for the ‘whole education system’ is also imperative.

Whilst the framework is statutory for maintained schools and local authorities and we do not want to lose the focus on maintained school learners, we have been clear that it has applicability across all education settings and for all learners. With this in mind we want to ensure that it is being used and is having the desired impact in other settings. These include in particular, further education (colleges, work based supporting more vulnerable learners, including those currently being educated otherwise than at school (EOTAS) and home educated learners.