Autism and ADHD Assessments

Kim Leadbeater Excerpts

Monday 6th February 2023 Westminster Hall

[Elliot Colburn]

The Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee is absolutely right and I commend the work that the Committee has done in this area. I look forward to reading its report. Later in my speech, I will cover the wider health effects that waiting times can have on parents and adults waiting for assessments, so I am grateful to him for making us aware of that.

When I first agreed to open the debate, I initially took a personal view from my constituency. I have stood in this Chamber many times to talk about the poor experiences of parents in Carshalton and Wallington in attempting to secure education, health and care plans, or EHCPs, for their children due to the poor management of Sutton Council’s arm’s length organisation, Cognus, which was recently the subject of a BBC “Panorama” exposé. Barely a week goes by without a parent coming to talk to me at my surgeries about the poor experiences they have had when waiting for assessments or the inadequate assessments they have had—and this is the case not just for children, but for adults as well. Over recent weeks, in preparing for the debate, it became to me that assessment times are simply not fit for purpose.

[Kim Leadbeater (Batley and Spen) (Lab)]

I thank the West Yorkshire ADHD Support Group, a brilliant local organisation in my constituency that helps families through the diagnosis pathway. As the hon. Gentleman said, parents are finding waiting times for a diagnosis painfully long—it can be 18 months, two years and longer. Does he agree that that means many wasted years of education, leaving children in danger of falling behind their peers? We are setting them up to fail. Surely we need to think about diagnosis within weeks, not years.

[Elliot Colburn]

I absolutely agree with the hon. Lady. Many people have said that to me, and I am sure that many other right hon. and hon. Members will say the same. This is a complete waste of opportunity and talent. Indeed, when I met with the TV host Melanie Sykes, that was one of the central things she said to me. This is a wasted opportunity and wasted talent, and we are wasting the lives of young people with these waiting lists.

--- Later in debate ---

[Kim Leadbeater]

My hon. Friend makes the valuable point that sadly we still have a lot of work to do to reduce the stigma associated with ADHD and autism. Does he agree that we need an education system and, indeed, a society that celebrate neurodiversity and all the wonderful things it brings with it?

[Bambos Charalambous]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. We need education in society, and the acceptance of people with ADHD and autism, to ensure that people with those neurodiverse conditions are able to flourish and live to their full potential.