Autism

Caroline Dinenage Excerpts

Thursday 29th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Care (Caroline Dinenage)]

I will start by heaping praise on my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan) for securing this important debate and her incredible work over many years to raise the awareness of autism both within and outside this place. It is thanks to her ground-breaking private Member’s Bill on autism that we now have an adult autism strategy. Next year, it will be 10 years since her Bill became the Autism Act 2009, transforming services for autistic adults and having a huge impact on public awareness of autism. That is entirely down to her.

[Dame Cheryl Gillan]

Will the Minister give way?

[Caroline Dinenage]

I am not going to give way too much because I have a lot to get through, but I will definitely give way to my right hon. Friend.

[Dame Cheryl Gillan]

I thank the Minister and other Members who have acknowledged that I have had a part to play in this. She is sitting next to my hon. and learned Friend the Member for South Swindon (Robert Buckland); he and Members of all parties have contributed to this work. I assure the Minister that no one MP can do this on her own. My tribute is to all those people who have done the hard work and the heavy lifting.

[Caroline Dinenage]

My right hon. Friend is as honourable and modest as ever. I also want to thank all the other Members who have worked long and hard on this over a number of years, and those who have contributed so beautifully today. This high-quality debate has included strong personal stories and great examples of fantastic constituency work.

I thank the Backbench Business Committee for enabling this debate to happen during World Autism Awareness Week. It has given us the opportunity to draw much-needed attention to the challenges that autistic people, and their families and carers, face on a daily basis. Members who have spoken are absolutely right to say that we need to understand more about autism across all sectors of society and in all parts of government. I share their determination to address this important issue.

Since the introduction of the autism strategy in 2010, it has done much to improve the lives of those living with autism, but we know that there is still much to be done. As hon. Members may be aware, we have recently put in place revised governance arrangements to continue taking forward the strategy. On Monday I had the pleasure of chairing the first annual accountability meeting, where I heard from key stakeholders, self-advocates and partners about the challenges facing autistic adults across England and how we can keep making progress in realising the ambitious autism strategy.

[Mr Sheerman]

Will the Minister give way?

[Caroline Dinenage]

May I make a little bit of progress? I will take questions if I manage to get through this wad of paper.

In reference to a point made by the hon. Members for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) and for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan), there were representatives at that meeting from all the other Government Departments, including the Department for Transport, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Education and the Home Office. The hon. Gentlemen were absolutely right to point out that this subject reaches all Government Departments. It was clear that the complexity of autism and the multifaceted nature of the needs of those on the spectrum pose particularly challenging questions. Frequently this results in regional disparities that are far too wide in autism diagnosis waiting times and in the services someone can access once they have a diagnosis. Some areas are doing well, but others are not, and we need to ensure that good practice is identified and shared across all areas.

Many Members have highlighted particular challenges that autistic children face in school. My hon. Friend the Member for Henley (John Howell) explained exactly why it is important that autistic children are well supported in their education if we are to raise their attainment and improve their life chances. The Government congratulate the all-party group on autism on its report about education in England, which was published in November. It is really important that support for young people with autism is targeted where it will be most effective. The recommendations of that report are being considered by the Department for Education and will be key to its plans. As my hon. Friend said, all teachers are now trained to help children with conditions such as autism as part of their teacher training. Since 2011, we have funded the Autism Education Trust to provide autism awareness training for more than 150,000 education staff—not just headteachers, teachers and teaching assistants, but support staff such as receptionists and dinner ladies, thereby encouraging a whole-school approach to supporting children.

Exclusions were mentioned by a number of Members, including my hon. Friend the Member for Henley, my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon), my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers) and the hon. Members for Cardiff West and for Bedford (Mohammad Yasin). We are funding work via the Autism Education Trust to provide advice to parents and professionals on trying to cut down the number of exclusions. We have introduced the biggest reforms to special educational needs and disability support in a generation; introduced education, health and care plans that are tailored to a child’s needs; and given councils £223 million extra funding to help them to introduce these significant reforms.

Diagnosis was mentioned by many hon. Members. Adults and children should not have to face long waiting times for autism diagnosis. We will continue to work with partners to try to address these long waiting times. This is also a key part of the task and finish group that is being led by NHS England. We have included autism indicators in the mental health services dataset, with data beginning to be collected from 1 April this year. This is a real step forward. We need such robust, comparable data to be regularly collected and monitored so that we can be certain of the true extent of the problems not just on waiting times for diagnosis, but on post-diagnostic outcomes. In the Think Autism strategy, we are clear that there should be a pathway to diagnosis, care and support in every local area so that we improve recognition, speed up the process of diagnosis, and meet individuals’ advice and support needs.

I have previously described my hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mrs Trevelyan) as a force of nature, and today we saw another example of that. She spoke about regional centres of excellence—a fabulous idea—and said that there is nothing wrong with people with autism; they are just different. I had the pleasure of meeting her different and fabulous son James for an evening in Edinburgh last summer. I would hate to be on the receiving end as somebody she encountered in a shop giving her fine young gentleman a hard time.

[Mr Sheerman]

Will the Minister give way before she concludes, as she said she would?

[Caroline Dinenage]

If you will give me a little extra time to complete my remarks, Madam Deputy Speaker, yes.

[Mr Sheerman]

I am grateful to the Minister, who is making an excellent speech. I just wanted to get her to say something about the report we launched yesterday—I know she could not make the event—about people selling harmful interventions to individuals on the autism spectrum. Does she believe that that is a problem?

[Caroline Dinenage]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to raise this; I know that he has done so at Health questions in the past. The Department of Health and Social Care does not in any way condone any of the so-called cures or remedial substances that are being proffered. We do not think that any of them are any good whatsoever.

Last year, NICE’s indicator advisory committee recommended including autism diagnosis in a menu of GP indicators. A review of the quality and outcomes framework is being undertaken by NHS England, and it will conclude later this spring. NHS England has confirmed that the GP autism register will be considered in the context of this work.

We know that there are sometimes issues with the health gap. The hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes) raised the case of her constituent, Matthew, which shows how horrible things can be when they do go wrong. I will be very happy to meet her to ensure that Matthew’s experience is not in vain.

Many Members raised issues around employment. We know that having a job is not just about earning a living, as it also contributes to people’s wellbeing, gives them a sense of belonging and purpose, and builds self-confidence and self-esteem. Through the Disability Confident scheme, the Department for Work and Pensions is engaging with employers and helping to promote the skills, talents, abilities and value of people with autism. Additionally, Access to Work has a hidden impairment support team that gives advice and guidance to help employers to support employees with conditions such as autism, to offer eligible people an assessment to find out their needs at work, and to help to develop a support plan.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow, the brilliant Chair of the Education Committee, who is passionate about apprenticeships, made a brilliant point about the need for more focus on ensuring that children do not drop off the edge when they leave school. We will certainly take that forward. In December, the DWP published “Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability”, which set out how it will deliver on its ambitious plan to help 1 million more people with a range of disabilities into work.

On the civil service becoming an autism-friendly employer, we have committed to support the autism exchange programme, and the civil service is working with Ambitious about Autism to provide work placement opportunities for young people.

On access to democracy, under Representation of the People Acts, polling stations must be as accessible as possible to disabled voters. We recognise that there might be specific challenges, and we will explore with the Electoral Commission what further adjustments can be made.

A few Members talked about the criminal justice system. The Ministry of Justice is working with the Home Office and the Crown Prosecution Service to develop a guide to help officers to identify people with autism. That is now included as part of all police training. NHS England has also issued a revised liaison and diversion specification, which includes autism. To date, eight prisons and young offenders institutions, including Feltham, where the programme started, are part of the criminal justice accreditation scheme, and another 35 are currently looking at the process.

I am really disappointed to hear examples from Members across the House of bad experiences with jobcentre staff, PIP, work capability assessments and so on. All healthcare professionals conducting work capability assessments and other things receive extensive training regarding autism spectrum disorder as part of their new entrant training. All work coaches in jobcentres receive the same training, but I will pass those comments on to the Department for Work and Pensions.

The hon. Member for Bristol West (Thangam Debbonaire) is clearly a true champion for autism in her local area, and I give her massive credit for what she does. She mentioned loneliness. I will be working closely with the Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch), in developing the cross-Government strategy on loneliness, which is supported by the Prime Minister.

We have heard wonderful examples of great community projects offering fantastic support in different Members’ local areas, and I should give a shout-out to the incredible Marvels and Meltdowns in my constituency—a blatant plug.

The hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Patricia Gibson) mentioned poor mental health. Obviously that is not an inevitable consequence of autism, but if someone has autism and a mental health problem, it is essential that they can get the appropriate help and support.

The hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron) highlighted worrying figures about suicide. We are committed to tackling suicide in every community and for everyone who is at risk, and we updated the national suicide prevention strategy last year to strengthen delivery on key areas.

I want to join the hon. Member for Dewsbury (Paula Sherriff) in paying tribute to the National Autistic Society and its Too Much Information campaign, Autism Alliance, Autistica and various other charities throughout the country that do fantastic work to raise awareness and offer support.

We all want to live in a world and in a country where autism is never a barrier to the opportunity afforded to others. World Autism Awareness Week enables us to continue keeping this issue high on the agenda and in the minds of policy makers, professionals and members of the public alike, which is where it should be.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House notes that World Autism Awareness Week 2018 runs from 26 March to 2 April; believes that there is a lack of understanding of the needs of autistic people and their families; and calls on the Government to improve the support provided to autistic children in school and to autistic adults in or seeking employment, to reduce waiting times for autism diagnosis, and to promote a public awareness campaign so people can make the changes necessary for the UK to become autism-friendly.