Autism Bill

No, I will not give way, because the right hon. Gentleman has annoyed me intensely. I am making a serious point based on my knowledge, and I have no intention of trivialising the debate. I indicated in my exchange with the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton my experiencing of dealing with people working in high-end occupations who are very difficult to manage. I recall meeting a bright young man who was a leading researcher in a big IT company in California. I shall not mention the name of the company, because his name could be identified if I did. His leadership did not want the delegation that was visiting the company to meet him. When I asked why not, the response was deeply worrying. The company employed him and had respect for his abilities, but his leadership said to me, "You can't meet him because he's an animal." His behaviour was particularly odd, but his technical output was extraordinary. Even in that case, the company had not quite got it right. I see the grimace on the hon. Lady's face, and indeed that is not the way to treat such people. Yes, they should get such high-end jobs, but they need to be treated with dignity. All people with such conditions deserve that. Autism is no longer attributed to how parents behave and so on, as it used to be: it is properly recognised. There is some interesting work on this on the websites of the NHS and the World Health Organisation. However, it has come to the fore only recently, because of the advance of medical science. The United Nations General Assembly recognised the condition only on 18 December 2007, as a result of a motion proposed by the state of Qatar, and it is among only three illnesses to have been given world awareness days. Those are hugely important changes. Similarly, developments are occurring locally. Let me now refer precisely to the Bill. The problem is real because local authorities and Government agencies let down people on the autistic spectrum. I have already mentioned the courts, the Department for Work and Pensions and others that can do better. The Minister must ensure, by engaging with his colleagues, that other Departments buy into the policy. I agree that the statutory guidance issued under section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 works only if it is properly policed and followed through rigorously. I want to ask my hon. Friend the Minister several specific questions. Will there be extra money next year to ensure that proper research can be undertaken into the prevalence of adult autism in particular? Will guidance issued to local authorities under the Bill or section 7 of the 1970 Act have statutory teeth? As the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton pointed out, it should not be a case of simply putting something on the statute book—just having it there does not deliver. Policing legislation properly means resourcing it, and I expect the Minister to confirm that that will happen. Like my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman), I am not worried about how things are tactically managed as long as the outcomes are correct. It is important to ascertain how statutory guidance to children's trusts develops. The hon. Member for Buckingham is nodding. As my hon. Friend said, the guidance that we expect to cover children's trusts will—by definition, I hope—cover a range of disorders, but we need to be assured today that that includes autism and the autistic spectrum. What themes will the adult statutory guidance cover? Will it cover only the Department of Health, or will it be broader? The Welsh Assembly issue has already been raised in an intervention, so I shall skip that. Perhaps the most important matter is transition. Many of us have experienced cases of local authorities, of all political persuasions, failing on transition. Some authorities, which deliver well on children's services, have no provision for proper transition. As my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) pointed out, they can fail even at the basic level of sharing information within departments. What will the guidance do about transition? Will it bring about the sort of change in regime that ensures that there is no longer a chasm between child and adult services?