Autism Bill

I agree with the hon. Lady, whose knowledge of this subject is of extremely long standing. That brings me back full circle to where I started, with the Department of Health circular. I am concerned that in order to deliver his promises on regulation, the Minister is going to lean on section 7 of the 1970 Act, as the Department did back in 2001. The circular that it produced told health and social services that they must now take account of Asperger's syndrome and make assessments for it available. Whenever I am invited to talk to an audience of people interested in autism, I have made a habit of taking about 20 photocopies of this circular with me because increasingly it is totally ignored, yet it has statutory weight behind it. If this is the legislation that the Minister is going to rely on for his regulation, he will have to convince me that he will ensure that this can be implemented. To my certain knowledge—I am not exaggerating—I have given away hundreds of copies of this circular, not just to parents but to professionals, because they were not aware that it existed, and people have been denied access to services as a result. I know that this circular has been used in several court cases that have been brought to try to get packages for people with autism. I know that many people in the House want to speak on this subject, although I hope they do not speak for too long. I want to give them a chance to do so but will just finish with this point. The Minister will know that the National Audit Office is concluding an extensive report on the subject of autism. As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I was fortunate enough to visit Sir John Bourn and his team in January last year and ask them if they would report on autism, because the PAC has seen some excellent reports from them in recent years on subjects such as strokes and dementia. The PAC is of course interested in value for money in public expenditure, but those reports on dementia and stroke flagged up not only the economics of dealing with this population of people but the gaps in the system that have been mentioned many times today, and the human dimension of not doing something properly. I am aware, as I am sure the Minister is, that the report on autism will be published in April. We look forward to its findings. However, if he does not let a Committee sit to scrutinise the Bill, I can assure him that his permanent secretary will appear before the PAC before too long, and we are not an easy bunch when it comes to letting people off the hook. The choice is his—he can either come and face the music in Committee himself or put it off until later in the year and let his permanent secretary do the job for him. I have always believed that ministerial office means that the buck stops on the Minister's desk. It would be very good if he would think again about allowing my hon. Friend's Bill to be scrutinised so that the meaning of the words can be examined and the legislation got right.