Written question WQ85552

We are taking a cross-government and multi-agency approach to protect and improve mental well-being and to reduce the need for more specialist services through prevention and early intervention. This includes our whole system approach to improve emotional well-being in schools, and our NEST/NYTH planning framework which is being implemented by regional partnership boards. We have also increased our investment in tier 0/1 support to provide better access to early support without the need for a referral from a health professional.

We have targeted additional investment to support health boards to respond to the growing and changing mental health demand and to implement plans to meet waiting time targets on a sustainable basis. We have also strengthened our performance management arrangements for mental health and commissioned the NHS Delivery Unit to undertake a review of child and adolescent mental health services to help us understand the variance in performance to support improvement plans. This is in addition to the regular meetings my officials have with all relevant health board leads and regular meetings I have directly with health board chairs and vice chairs.