Public Affairs Update - May 2023

Public Affairs Update - May 2023

Welsh Government

Together for Mental Health

The Welsh Government is reviewing the Together for Mental Health and Talk to Me 2 Strategies with plans to publish an open consultation on the strategies at the end of 2023. They are now agreeing high-level vision statements and cross-cutting principles and will seek feedback from service users and stakeholders to ensure that the strategies are appropriately targeted. We have shared these draft statements with the Welsh Branch Committee and the Welsh Divisions. If you would like to see a copy of the statements, please contact [email protected].

Senedd

Debate on Connecting the Dots – mental health inequalities report

There will be a debate in Plenary on the Health and Social Care Committee report - Connecting the dots: tackling mental health inequalities in Wales on Wednesday, 3 May. The report urges the Welsh Government to consider the wider determinants of poor mental health, including poverty, those with communication needs, neurodivergent people, harder to reach groups, and so on. The Welsh Government responded to the report on 25 April 2023. You can watch the debate live at www.senedd.tv.

Report on speech, language and communication needs in the youth justice system

The Equality and Social Justice Committee's final report into speech, language and communication needs in the youth justice system published last Wednesday (19 April). The report, "60% - Giving them a voice" says that 60 per cent of the young people involved with the youth justice system have a speech, language or communication difficulty, compared with an estimated 10 per cent for children and young people as a whole.

News from Westminster

Imprisonment for Public Protection

MPs held a general debate on the Third Report of the Justice Select Committee on Imprisonment for Public Protection Indeterminate Sentences on Thursday, 27 April. The BPS produced a briefing in advance of the debate, stating that IPP sentences undermine the practice of forensic psychologists and that serving an IPP sentence is psychologically harmful. We stated that it is imperative that the Government bring forward legislation for a resentencing exercise imminently. We also produced an online statement. The transcript of the debate is now available.

Open Consultations

1. The Senedd's Health Committee is holding an inquiry into support services for people with chronic conditions. This is a large scale inquiry held in two stages. Stage one will help identify those specific areas they can focus on, given the breadth of chronic conditions and the different experiences patients have in their care.
   
   Members' views are welcomed and will help inform our response. Please email [email protected] by Thursday, 18 May.
    
2. The Welsh Government are seeking views on the Single Unified Safeguarding Review (SUSR) statutory guidance. They are asking if the guidance will prevent re-traumatisation of victims and their families, streamline the review process to make it less complicated, ensure learning from safeguarding reviews is shared across the whole of Wales and ensure the impacted family is at the heart of the review process.
   
   Members' views are welcomed and will help inform our response. Please email [email protected] by Wednesday, 24 May.

Recent Consultation Responses

On 28 April, we responded to the Senedd's inquiry into the public health approach to prevent gender-based violence, highlighting good practice and stressing that improvements in a number of way, including: embedding wellbeing in the culture of the school, not just the curriculum; providing teachers with the support they need to address the impact on children of outside influences, particularly from online platforms and social media influencers; creating a sustainable model for funding services so that programmes can be piloted, researched, rolled-out, evaluated and updated in light of the latest and best evidence; and recognising the importance of psychologists as a profession with valuable expertise in this area.