 Diolch. Dwi'n fach iawn o fod yn siarad gyda chi hefyddiw yn fyrwll newydd fel gwedd nidog iechyd meddwl sesiant argymraeg. Dwi am sôn hefyddiw am y cymorth i argyl i helpu pobl gyda'u iechyd meddwl yn ystod y pandemig. Ond dwi'n siarad eich roi rai o feithiau ar ffigurau diweddaraill chi. I'm pleased to be speaking today in my new role as Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and the Welsh Language. I'm going to start by giving the latest facts and figures to you. There are now more than 250 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 people in Wales. The highest are in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Blaine Aigwent and Merthyr Tidvil. In these areas, we've seen rates higher than 500 cases per 100,000 people. Today, Public Health Wales will confirm a further 1,200 cases of coronavirus in Wales, but the actual number of infections will be much higher. As Andrew Goodall said yesterday, 1,275 COVID-related patients are in hospital at the moment and this is the highest number since late April and we're getting very close to the point when the NHS reached its peak demand in mid April. It's with much regret that I tell you that Public Health Wales will today report a further 44 deaths. My thoughts are with those who are suffering and in particular with their families in mourning at what is a very difficult time already for all of us. Even before the pandemic, one in four of us were likely to experience a mental health problem at some point in our lifetime. Coronavirus has impacted on many people's physical health, but it's also taking a toll on people's mental and emotional health and well-being across the whole population. There are those who are feeling more than just a general sense of frustration with this pandemic. Many are struggling with feelings of anger, of anxiety, depression, fear, worry and even hopelessness. Too often though, many overlook or fail to recognise their increased anxiety. They try and ignore the negative feelings and they hope they'll go away. It's really important that we can acknowledge these feelings and we can talk openly about them. I want you to know that if you're experiencing any of these feelings, there is help and support available to you. In Wales, we spend more on mental health than on any other aspect of the NHS, £700 million a year. During this crisis, we've provided even more support. There's a wide range of services available in Wales from what we call talking therapies, which include courses and information, which can be done online, all the way through to high intervention services for people who are seriously ill. We've invested heavily in early interventions and online services such as Mind Cymru's Active Monitoring. We've invested in Young People's Mental Health Toolkit and Beats Eating Disorder Helpline. We've provided £1.3 million to support the rollout of Silver Cloud this year. Silver Cloud is an online cognitive behavioural therapy service, which provides a 12-week course for people with mild to moderate anxiety, depression and stress. The service is supported by a team of psychologists and online cognitive behavioural therapy coordinators. It started as a pilot in Poes and is now available more widely, and already 2,000 people have signed up in just eight weeks since its launch. These talking therapies don't replace specialist services, but they give people more options and easy access to support designed to reduce demand on local GP services. We've also provided funding from a range of regional approaches to reduce suicide and self-harm, including bereavement support, training and awareness raising. We've provided £10 million to make sure university students have access to mental health support and suicide safer measures during the pandemic. Today I've announced a further £3 million to provide a helping hand to people looking for work or permanent accommodation and for people struggling with mental health or substance misuse problems in the midst of this pandemic. This vital funding will provide early targeted support for the most vulnerable individuals in a preventative capacity to reduce the escalation to often complex needs. Yn un agosai at ddiwedd y cyfnod atal bair, un i wedi gofyn lawr o'r bobl drwy gydol y flwyddyn yma ac i chi wedi ymateb bob trw. Dim ond gyda'ch cymorth chi yn eiso'n i'n lwyddo i ar rafi'r ffordd coronavirus yn y gwannwyn, ac y bythio byddwn i'n waith eto yn gallu ar rafi'r coronavirus yn ystod y cyfnod atal bair. Gofal eich am eich gilydd a dalio'ch i gefnogi'ch gilydd. We are approaching the end of this firebreak period. We've asked so much of people this year and you've responded at every time. It's only with your help that we're able to turn back the tide of coronavirus in the spring and I hope we'll once again be able to turn the tide of coronavirus over the course of this firebreak. Please look out for each other and continue to support each other. If you need someone to speak to, our mental health helpline is available 24 hours a day on 0800 132737. You can also access support at the NHS 111 online. Diolch yn fawr i chi gyd. Now I'm happy to take questions from journalists and all of the questions and the answers will be broadcast live on our social media channels. So the first question from Catherine Harve-Jones BBC Wales. Care homes have told BBC Wales the problems with the routine testing of staff are causing a lot of concern and anxiety for them when telling us they often wait four days for results and many saying they've had to wait at least a week for results. The latest official weekly data shows that a thousand tests from care homes took more than three days to come back. This delay has been described as a ticking time bomb for care homes. What are you doing to tackle this? Well we're trying to use this time during the firebreak to speed up the testing process in Wales to make sure that we don't have a situation where we see a spread of the virus within those care homes. We have to recognise however that whilst that spread is happening in our communities there is clearly an increased risk for those care homes and we're also anxious to make sure that people who have want to visit people in those care homes who may be in very desperate trouble who may have maybe their last opportunity to meet their loved ones have an opportunity to do that and that's why we've created guidance to make sure that they can visit in a safe way. So improving that testing is what we're trying to do during this firebreak period. Yn gobeithio defnyddio ar cyfnod yma, yn ystod cyfnod byr, i sicrhau bod ni'n gwella ffordd i ni cael ymateb o ddiwrdd y profion yn arbennig pan i ni ddod i lefydd gofal. Un i wedi gweld bod cynnydd i weld yn yn cymuned a ni ac wrth gwrs mae hwnna mynd i gynnydd y risg i'r lefydd yna, lle mae hyn bobol yn ymgasklu. Mae'n bwysig hefyd bod ni'n rhoi cyfleu bobol, sydd eisiau mynd i'n gweld a pobl yn y cartref i gofal yma. Bwyny'n cael cyfleu neud hynny, mae'n ffordd saf a dyna pa mynd i wedi creu guidance i sicrhau bod hynny hefyd yn bosibl. Yr deall chi'n ddweud. Rhaol gwestiwn, yn y rysbos i'r ddileisio ar gyfer y teisiau yn Llywodraeth Llywodraeth UK, yng Nghymru Llywodraeth Llywodraeth Cymru yn ymgyrch i'r Llywodraeth Llywodraeth Cymru, yn ymgyrch i'r lluniau Llywodraeth Llywodraeth Nesaf, i'r teisiau yn ei ddod i'r teisiau. Felly, yw 68% o teisiau yn ymgyrch i Llywodraeth Llywodraeth Llywodraeth Llywodraeth Llywodraeth, y same percentage and a similar figure as well to what it was back in mid September. Why haven't we seen that shift yet? Well, it does take a while for that shift to feed through the system, but that is something that we have been focused on during the fire break to try and shift the emphasis from the Lighthouse Labs to the Public Health Wales approach, which has been a lot more successful. And of course, if you look at our test track and trace results, they are significantly better than the results that you see in England. Yn ni defnyddio'r amser yma, i geisio dal i fyny, gyda'r sefyllfa na, lle yna mynd i weld cynnydd, a bydd y cynnydd yn adwynt siwr yn dod trwy yn ystod y rwythnosau Nesaf yma, wrth i ni symud o fod yn laethu bynol ar y system Lighthouse sydd yn dod o loi gyr. Can I ask Nick Powell, ITV? Thank you, Minister. I'd like to ask you about the impact of the restrictions on meeting friends and family. It can't be done in an informal way, in an unregulated setting. It has to be by appointment in a pub or a café. Aren't you worried that will work for people who are younger and fitter and better off, believe elderly, vulnerable and poorer people, lonely and isolated? Well, thanks very much, Nick. Of course, we have made it clear that we are allowing people to mix with one other household during this time in order to specifically address the issue that you're talking about. Of course, we were concerned about the fact that many people had created bubbles which didn't work for young people. This is one of the reasons why we're keen to reopen hospitality, to give people an opportunity to mix in a regulated environment. Of course, that regulation will be very clear, will be publishing guidance either today or tomorrow on how people are able to come together in cafes and pubs. Also, of course, we want to make it clear that the availability of meeting other people, and you can also, of course, meet people outdoors, and that is an opportunity as well. Thank you. Pub cafe and restaurant owners are telling us that they fear the restrictions, especially the social distancing requirements, will be hard to enforce and will make their businesses unviable. Are they right to consider simply staying closed? Well, we've been having very detailed discussions with the hospitality sector, and it was clear that there were concerns about these strict new measures. What we're doing is we're giving people the opportunity to open if they choose. We're not forcing anybody to open and, of course, there will be opportunities for people to access finance if they decide that it's not possible for them to open under these new circumstances. Can I ask Daniel Bevan from LBC for his question? Thank you, Minister. Good afternoon. Staying with the hospitality industry, but focusing in particular on border towns, is there going to be a restriction for people coming in from England if they're in the middle of their lockdown and we've come out of the firebreak? Will that be legislated? Will companies be fined if they don't enforce it? And how will you be checking? Can I get that answer in Welsh and English? Of course, people in England should not be moving. They have had an instruction to stay at home, and that's what, of course, they should be doing. If people do try and cross the border and do try, for example, to gain access to hospitality, our test track and trace system, which will now be effective for everybody going into a pub, will mean that they will have to give their address, and it'll be clear that they shouldn't be frequenting that establishment. Mae Glyr bod pobl wedi cael ei gofynu yn edyn, Llygur, yw i aros adre, a dyna beth ddelen yw fod yn edrych, a ddelen yw ddim fod yn croes i'r ffin. Os bydd pobl yn ymgeisio fynd at tafan, mae angen i'n rhaid i'r nawr, iddyn nhw'n rhoi ei manlyion nhw o ble mae cartre nhw, a bydd hwnna'n dangos yn Glyr bod nhw wedi torri'r gyfraith, felly ni ddelen yw fod yn dod dros y ffin yn ystod y cyfnod yma. Thank you, and can I ask this answer for Welsh and English as well, if that's all right. Of course, we're in the middle of the US election. In your formal role as International Relations Minister, I think you're quite well placed to speak on this on behalf of the Welsh Government. What do you think it says when the leaders of the free world, or potential leaders of the free world are claiming victory in an election that's very clearly far from being called? Well, I think it is important that any leader respects the democratic process and the democratic process should be allowed to run its full course. It's clear that there are implications for Wales in relation to who may win the election. Climate change is something that we feel very strongly about in Wales and there are very different views on climate change in relation to the two candidates in the US election. So it will have an impact on us. The strength of the US economy will also have an impact on the economy of Wales. So this is not something that won't affect us and of course we, I suppose from the Welsh Government point of view, would call on all of the candidates to make sure that they respect the democratic process and allow it to run its full course. Mae ddorol i weld y ffordd mae'r othwyliadau yn yr un o ddaleithiau yn gweithredu. Wrth gwrs mae'n bwysig bod pobl yn parchi y syfydliad democratic bod ni'n aros i gyfrifod pleidlais tan, bod ni'n clwed a professor terfynol, ac i'w bod pwy sydd wedi enill a pwy fydd yn arliwyd newydd yr un o ddaleithiau. Mae'n mynd i gael effaith arno ni yma yng Nghymru. Wrth gwrs mae ddau candidates gyda a gwedd y gwahanol iawn yr enghraifft ar newid hinsawd ac ni wedi ymrwymo at gweld gwela mewn newid hinsawd yng Nghymru ac wrth gwrs mae'n glir bod rhaid i bobl aros tan y broses wedi mynd trwy'r broses yn llwyr ac i'n bod ni'n gweld gwahanol iawn a bod ni'n cael canlyniad cywyr ar ddiwedd y dydd. Can I ask Will Hayward from Wales Online? Thank you Minister. Can you explain in simple terms the science and rationale behind why I am able to meet three people all from different households inside a pub but I can't meet one member of my family from outside my household in my garden? Well, what we wanted to do was to make sure that we allowed people the opportunity to meet in a controlled environment and we know that pub landlords have a long history of being able to control their own environments. What we don't know is how that will happen in people's homes so we want to give people the opportunity to meet each other and that in a controlled environment. We're allowing two families to get together within the home and now effectively we're allowing people from four different households effectively to come together in a regulated environment and that's the fundamental difference. Okay, yesterday we covered an inquest into the death of a young woman who took her a life after her mental health consultation was cancelled. Today the parents of a Red Cross volunteer have said she was failed by mental health services before she took her own life. Do you think mental health services have enough capacity in Wales and how do we ensure that people in such vulnerable places get the help they need in the future? What we're trying to do is to make sure that we ramp up our mental health capacity. Already we are putting significant funding into this but mental health is not about just the money that we put into the health service. We've got to see this as something that is much broader than that. This is about job security, it's about family relationships, it's about debt. There are lots and lots of reasons for why people suffer mental health and anxiety problems. But what we need to do is to make sure that the services are available to them. We've adapted those services during the coronavirus pandemic to make sure that people can still have access. It was set as an essential service during the peak of the pandemic and it continued to be so. That access was there the whole time during the pandemic process but what we're trying to do is to make sure that there are easier ways for people to access in particular online. So you do think there's enough capacity right now in the system? I think there is capacity in the system but we're ramping it up. We've seen an increase in the number of people calling our call centres. We've seen 2,000 people access the Silver Cloud advice line. If we find that there is a need for more support then obviously we will look at putting in that additional support. At the moment we think that the important thing is to put the support in at what they call level zero or level one support which is very early stage intervention to stop those problems from building in the first place. But can I just say that I'm very sorry to hear about any case in particular where people have taken their own lives and obviously any case where there is a suggestion that there's been a failure on behalf of the government or the health board in any way we will investigate. Steve Bagnell, Daily Post. Thank you Minister. Some people are obviously struggling with mental health issues amid the outbreak. Are there any other indicators of the effect the virus has had in areas such as homelessness, drug abuse, excess drinking or domestic abuse. Have there been rises in these areas too as a result of so what else has been done to address these issues? You'll be aware Steve that we've put considerable funding into getting people off the streets in particular at the beginning of the pandemic and we've continued to put that money in to make sure that we can put as much support as possible. A lot of people on the streets have mental health issues. What we've been able to do because of that is to wrap around care support package in place to make sure that they have what they need in terms of support from us. We don't have any evidence yet of an increase in drug abuse but we are aware that there is a likelihood that unless we take early steps to intervene which is what we're doing with this package of measures today we are likely to see problems in that space. Thank you Minister and Christmas is approaching and I appreciate although we can't see exactly what the situation with coronavirus will be coming into the festive period is the Welsh Government looking at best case, worst case scenarios based on projections to give people some sort of Christmas to live spirits and their mental health? I think Christmas is something that obviously a lot of people are focused on but we have also got to focus on the fact that we've got to turn the situation around in Wales and you've heard from the figures we've heard this morning that we're far from doing that at the moment. We are hoping that this fire break will go a long way to try to stem the incidents of the virus. Of course we understand that Christmas is a really important time for families throughout the country and we will be looking at how ideally in a cross-UK way we can work together to make sure that people can get together but there are no guarantees of that at this point. We've also got to consider that a lot of people are alone at Christmas and that is something that we need to consider as well in our thought processes. Gawd ni Yola Jones o Golog? Yn hwn da, bwynyddoch. Ychydig yna bod pwysig rwy'n technoleg a pharfformed y gydol i ddwybodol i Gymraeg ac un o'r syfydladau rhaen i sy'n arweinigad ar hyn o beth i'w cynolfan beth yw'r ryfysgol bango'r. Yn olaf adroddiad y BBC mae'r cynlluniau ar y gweithio o'r trwythiwr o'r cynolfan, mae'n sylfaen ei ddych chi'n benedd cynolfan drwy'n cynnwyl iawn sydd wedi bod yn un gyfysterau chwa le'r syfydlu ar y cwyr. Yn o fwynyddoch y Gymraeg, a gos dyw'r erich ffocws chi ar y Gymraeg ym ni'n technolfan beth byddai'w chfan chi ymwyswydfa a ddod le'r llodraedd ymyrraedd i dynod? Just to repeat the question from Yolo. The question really was with the emphasis on the Welsh language on the importance of technology. There's a particular issue at cynolfan Bedwyr in North Wales which is based in Bangor University and there is a proposal at the moment to restructure the centre and I'm being asked whether that is something that we have concerns about as Welsh Government. Just to be clear that we have had discussions with Bangor University about the situation in cynolfan Bedwyr and understand the proposals for a restructure. Technology is absolutely central to what we see as a key element in the future use of the Welsh language which is why cynolfan Bedwyr is in terms of the work that they do very important. But this restructure, I'm sure, will not get rid of the essential work that they have been doing over a number of years. Wedyn y rhawer o'r anfail yng Nghymru? Chy siw ychydig i at y bynnag? Oh, yes, of course. Just to be clear, we have had discussions with Bangor University on the issue of cynolfan Bedwyr. Technology has been very important in the future use of the Welsh language and I think that in the future in the future, cynolfan Bedwyr is in terms of cynolfan Bedwyr yn gorffennol ddim yn cael eu colli. Great, so wedyn y rhan o'r anol gwestiwn mae'r amwy cynnyddleddau yma'r wasg. Mae digwydd i loedd fel sradd ragos wedi gwneud cynnyddleddau yma trwyddo'r argyfwm a hefos mae'r sysynnau yma wedi bod yn cyfle i godi profil i fod dreth cymry. Wedi gweitho ni'n pryn iawn i'r defnydd i'r Gymraeg gan weithnu dogion anewyd i dirwyr ac mae'r werth nodi yn sysneg. Mae gwneud o'r gwneud o'r gwneud am normalyddio'r Gymraeg, felly byddai o'r dreth yn cohi cyfle yn hyn i godi profil y Gymraeg ac yn normalyddio. Just to repeat the question that the suggestion is that the press conferences are an opportunity for the Welsh Government to raise the profile of the Welsh language and we haven't seen much of use of the Welsh language in these press conferences and wouldn't this be an opportunity to normalise the use of the language. Fod dwi'n fach iawn hefyd i mod i wedi cael cyfle i defnyddio'r wreth Gymraeg, ac wrth gwrs mae'n bwysig i gydnabod bod embosibl i bobl cael y gwibodaeth sydd angen wrth Twitter a'r lefydd eraill hefyd. Ond wrth gwrs beis i'n bwysig i'w pobol gyda'r cyfle i gloed yn y lle cyntaf beth sy'n digwydd i'n cymdeithasau yn arbennig pan mae'n dod i coronavirus a dynna beth yn eu caisio naid yn press conferences yma. Just to say that we are making every effort to make sure that there is an opportunity and there always has been an opportunity for people to raise questions in Welsh as we've done this morning and I hope that that situation will continue. Diolch, Daniel Barnes. Thank you very much. Is there any evidence that the coronavirus burden on mental health is falling more on those, on lower incomes and less well off areas or is it more universal? What we have seen in evidence is that people who already suffer from mental health issues are more likely to suffer more during the pandemic. People on lower incomes are also likely to suffer and one of the things that we are keen to do is to make sure that we put in place some advice in particular in relation to debt. So there is a whole programme now being undertaken in relation to debt support, especially when people are concerned about losing their jobs. So there is a relationship without question of people on lower incomes having those increased concerns and anxieties about how they are going to put food on their table. Thanks very much. I was saying that asymptomatic testing would now be carried out at a more local level. Is this something we can expect more of? Every day there are developments in this space and of course we will see how the initial pilot works and then of course if that is successful we will see that being rolled out. All of this is pretty new with the pandemic is something that we have never heard about before last Christmas and so we have got to just understand that all the time there are opportunities for us to attack this virus in a different way and we hope that this will be a method of doing that as well. Nathan Shusmith. Thank you Minister. Many people use sport and exercise to help manage their mental health during the 5 rate lockdown and the lockdown earlier this year indoor leisure facilities have been closed. As gyms and leisure centres have shown that they can be COVID safe and because of their benefits to mental health many have called for them to be prioritised in terms of staying open. What's your view on this and do you envisage the possibility of such facilities being prioritised in the future if there are further fire break lockdown periods? Well we've made it clear during this fire break that we would like to see people exercising outdoors because that is important to help their mental health. We have been very clear in this fire break that we wanted to see a pretty strict fire break so that we could limit the amount of time that the fire break took and that's why we closed indoor leisure centres along with almost every other facility apart from schools. And so of course they will be reopening when we come out of this fire break but we will have to continue to assess this but you are right in saying that they have so far proved that they have been able to manage COVID in a safe way by reopening but we will keep an eye on this in future. Thank you. And another question how much is people's mental health part of the discussion taking place around Christmas and also in other decisions around restrictions. This is being given a similar waiting in discussions compared to the direct physical health and economic impacts of the pandemic. We have been clear right from the beginning that mental health is an essential service. It has not been shut down during the pandemic. We are very aware that Christmas is something that people focus on as the time for families to get together. We are not able to give any detail on what Christmas will look like yet in terms of being able to mix but we are keen to see if it is possible for us to do that on a four nation basis across the UK. Diolch yn fawr.