Autism Bill

The hon. Gentleman has just answered his own question, and I will continue with my speech. Of the local authorities surveyed by the National Autistic Society, only two have developed robust ways of collecting and collating information on the population of people with autism. Under 40 per cent.—actually, 39 per cent.—of local authorities have appointed a named team leader with responsibility for autism spectrum disorders, which are known as ASDs. Only 53 per cent. of young people had been issued with transition plans on the move from children's to adult services—a point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) earlier—falling to just over one third in mainstream schools. That is illustrated by one local authority, which said:""ASD is not 'core business' for learning disability or mental health, so will not be prioritised"." That is precisely the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (John Bercow). My own county council, Buckinghamshire, has done a piece of work to enable it to record the number of people with Asperger's syndrome and high-functioning autism in our area. In that respect, it is better than many other local authorities, but there is still a long way to go in my own backyard before this information can be used effectively in service planning, let alone to address the urgent needs of this group of people.