Written question WQ99901

The all-age Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy sets out the actions we are taking across the Welsh Government and with partners to improve mental health and wellbeing, and to improve mental health services.

The Welsh Government is using our NYTH/NEST framework to bring a partnership approach to mental health and wellbeing support for babies, children, and young people. We are introducing a new young person’s engagement resource to support settings to gather children, and young people’s views on mental health and wellbeing services so their voices are informing improvement and change to services. We are also publishing podcasts discussing good practice in delivering mental health and wellbeing support.

Children and young people should get the support they need, when they need and we believe there should be no wrong door for mental health support. NHS Performance and Improvement (NHS P&I) are working with health boards to transform mental health services to provide same-day access, ensuring people of all ages can access the most appropriate form of support at the right time, without delay. A Quality Statement for Mental Health has also been published, this outlines what good mental health services should provide, and the standards people should expect.

In Wales, the seven Area Planning Boards (APBs) inform local commissioning decisions for substance misuse services and ensure that services are tailored to the specific challenges and demographics of each region. Alongside the provision of early intervention and preventative support a comprehensive and varied range of treatment interventions are funded, based on need informed through local needs assessments. Through the APB Substance Misuse Action Fund, the Welsh Government ring-fences £6.25m for children and young people.

In 2024, the Welsh Government published the Substance Misuse Treatment Framework for Children and Young People. The Framework is a guidance document and is designed to inform and assist health, social care, and criminal justice planners to design and deliver high quality treatment services, working with those at risk of initiation, or experience of historic or current problematic drug and/or alcohol use.

Further support is also available through DAN 24/7 and CALL which are free bilingual helplines funded by the Welsh Government, providing a single point of contact for anyone in Wales wanting further information or help in relation to substance misuse and mental health respectively.