Written question WQ98893
- Asked by
- Joshua KimReform
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Minister for Health and Care
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 8 days
Question
How will the Welsh Government measure progress in reducing disparities in mental health outcomes between young men in the most and least deprived communities in Wales?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Minister for Health and Care (Mabon ap Gwynfor)
One of the key goals of the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 is to create a Healthier Wales, which is measured through the Wellbeing of Wales National Indicators.
National Indicator 29 is the “Mean mental wellbeing score in Wales”, and the milestone associated with the indicator is “to improve adult and children’s mean mental wellbeing and eliminate the gap in adult and children’s mean mental wellbeing between the most deprived and least deprived areas in Wales by 2050”.
The Welsh Government is required by the Act to collect and report this information and does so through the National Survey for Wales. Fieldwork is currently underway to collect survey data for the 2026-27 survey year and, due to its new design, the sample size is expected to be much larger from this survey year onwards. This is expected to allow more detailed breakdowns of mean mental wellbeing scores, including by deprivation, sex and age.