Autism Bill

Those are most ungracious remarks. Hon. Members have asked me some very serious questions, and I have endeavoured to answer them in full, as this subject deserves. The hon. Members for Chesham and Amersham and for Tiverton and Honiton have had very little time to discuss this important issue in the House, and if the right hon. Gentleman is disturbed by that, I suggest that he takes another look at the values and priorities that we profess to have in this place. I make no apology for continuing. From the study, we are aware that a lack of support from any services for young people going on to higher education is a problem. That may be linked to a lack of expectation that that is attainable, so it will be important to look at that in our research. I also draw the House's attention to the fact that transition arrangements are specifically mentioned in clause 2 as one of the topics that must be included in the guidance that we will be issuing to support implementation of the autism strategy. There can be no clearer demonstration of the importance which we attach to this issue. I will now take a few moments to address specific points that the hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham made in her speech. In so doing, I am conscious that I may be guilty of repeating myself a little, but I want to ensure that I do her the courtesy of specifically addressing her concerns. First, the hon. Lady asked for reassurance that proactive measures to identify people with Asperger's syndrome and high-functioning autism will be put into place and that these measures will not be reliant purely on making better use of existing data. I should like to assure her that we will indeed take such proactive measures and will explore during our consultation period the best way to do that. In addition, we are already undertaking work to support local services to improve identification of people who need more support. We are commissioning a new public health observatory for learning disabilities, which will also be tasked with addressing data for all people with autism. Secondly, the hon. Lady asked me to confirm that the emphasis will be on identifying people who are not already known to services and people with Asperger's syndrome. I am very happy to give her that confirmation. We want to get good data on the whole population of people with autistic spectrum conditions. I am also very happy to confirm that the definition of people on the autism spectrum does indeed specifically include those who do not have a learning disability and who are often categorised as "high functioning", and people with Asperger's syndrome. The hon. Lady also asked about strategic planning and joint strategic needs assessments. I have already answered her concerns in my earlier comments, but to reiterate, we expect that those will address the needs of people with autism. We will publish good practice guidance this year setting out what a good JSNA looks like to help assessors to identify the needs of people such as those with autism, who may be at risk of falling through the net. Next, I can confirm that professionals who have particular responsibility for supporting people with autism, whether in social care, employment support or other areas, will receive appropriate training. I know that that was an issue of particular concern at Monday's Public Accounts Committee hearing, especially with regard to employment advisers. I can assure the House that the Department for Work and Pensions will review the content of autism-specific training materials for their staff. I was asked for assurance that assessments of the needs of people with autism will be person-centred and carried out by professionals with appropriate training. Yes, assessments must be person-centred—that is the essence of policy and practice. I have already made that clear. On the question of the timing of the publications of the strategy and consequential guidance, I understand the concerns that the hon. Lady and others have articulated. I am happy to reiterate that our intention is to make the delay between the publication of the strategy and the guidance as short as possible, but we cannot begin to develop guidance to deliver the strategy until the content of that strategy is finalised. We cannot publish the guidance without a full consultation with all stakeholders, particularly those bodies that will have a duty to act under the guidance. It is our commitment that we will consult all stakeholders on the guidance and not just local authorities and NHS bodies. On the question of evaluating delivery of the strategy and ensuring a review, it is a little too early to say what indicators would trigger a review, but in developing the strategy we will work closely with stakeholders to develop arrangements for local, regional and national monitoring of the delivery of key actions and will set in place arrangements for reporting and evaluation. The hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham asked about a named individual within the Department of Health who would be responsible for the success or failure of the strategy. I emphasise that we believe that the key to successful delivery is leadership at all levels from Ministers to the front line. We have a specialist external adviser on autism to support the development of the strategy. Once we have launched the strategy, we could consider whether there is a case for a national leadership role to steer delivery.