Will the Minister provide an update on the delivery of a whole school approach to mental health and how and when the impact of the programme will be shared?
We continue to work with schools, local authorities, heath boards and other partners to implement our whole school approach; the statutory framework guidance we published in March 2021; and the £9m we have made available in the current year to support activity. Funding will rise to £12.2m in 2022-23; £14.4m in 2023-24; and £16.6m in 2024-25. Work continues to be kept under review by our Joint Ministerial Advisory Group on a Whole System Approach to Wellbeing, which the Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, and I agreed should now focus on delivery and ensuring our work is having the intended impact.
On 20 January we published the Whole School Approach to Mental and Emotional Wellbeing: evaluability assessment (Cymraeg / English) which sets out research findings and recommendations to aid future implementation and evaluation of the WSA programme, including:
- the principles that drive and define the WSA
- the core components that need to be in place for the WSA to succeed
- evidence-based recommendations to aid implementation guidance
- a logic model and a systems map
- a phased approach to formative, process and impact evaluation
- recommendations for future evidence gathering to inform evaluation at the school and national levels.
In taking forward the report findings and recommendations we will continue to work with and report activity to the Joint Ministerial Group.