Services for People with Autism

Philip Dunne Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Huw Merriman]

A few years ago, Ambitious about Autism produced a big report looking looked at that specifically. I am fortunate to have in my constituency an organisation called Little Gate Farm, which takes people who have finished their education and makes them work-ready. However, it requires employers to give them a chance, and I am always writing to employers urging them to do so.

Let me give some examples. One young lad was obsessed with washing cars. We matched him up with a garage, and that is exactly what he does. Someone else was given a job in a bookkeeping firm. The big challenge there is ensuring that that young person takes time off, because they have become so used to the routine. The initiative has become so successful that people are throwing themselves into work. We must do all that we can, as Members of Parliament, to pair and support people.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham says that we in the APPG

“will hold the Government’s feet to the fire to see those recommendations reflected in the new strategy.

Our need to act is clear. Too many people”—

as we have just discussed—

“still have to wait too long for a diagnosis—more than three years in some parts of the country. Getting a diagnosis can be a crucial milestone, helping to unlock vital support. Delays in being diagnosed can result in people developing more significant needs, or mental health problems.

National guidance from the health watchdog NICE state clearly that children or adults suspected of being on the autism spectrum should start their diagnostic assessment within three months of being referred to their local autism team. But we know there is a postcode lottery in waiting times for appointments, with many parts of the country falling far short of the three-month target. Alongside the National Autistic Society, we have been pushing progress on this issue in this very chamber for several years. Valuable research”—

carried out by the right hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb)—

“on behalf of the APPGA shone a further spotlight on these long waits and called for a mandatory minimum waiting time standard. I am pleased to have him on board again leading our inquiry on health and mental health, which heard evidence last week.

We also know that autistic people too often don’t get the physical and mental health care they need. They face high levels of health inequality, and evidence suggests that people may die early as a result, which has been highlighted by Autistica. It’s vital that all health and care staff receive autism training to ensure that our health service meets their needs and makes the changes and adjustments that it needs to—a key part of the Autism Act. I welcome the Government’s current proposals on mandatory training in autism and learning disability to all health and care staff following the dogged campaigning of Paula McGowan, a mother who tragically lost her son Oliver. It’s vital that this proposal is taken forward and that its impact is monitored. I hope the Minister will devote some time to make sure that this programme makes a difference.

I also welcome the inclusion of autism, alongside learning disability, as one of the four clinical priorities in the NHS 10-year plan to improve health services. This is a great step towards ensuring that the NHS supports autistic people as well as it supports everyone else. It sets out actions to reduce children’s diagnosis waiting times, reduce the number of autistic people inappropriately under section in mental health hospitals, and making sure that reasonable adjustments are put in place. But we need more details on how these, and other commitments in the Plan will be delivered (and how they will be funded). I would appreciate if the Minister could update the House on when we can expect to see this much-needed detail.

I am pleased to see the Government already thinking ambitiously about the future of the strategy. I warmly welcome the Government’s commitment to extending the autism strategy to include children and young people, as well as adults, for the first time.”

[Mr Philip Dunne (Ludlow) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is making an exceptionally powerful speech, and I applaud his role as chairman of the all-party group. It is particularly impressive that he has been able to pick up the role in this debate of my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan) in her absence.

Returning to the question of education, my hon. Friend touched on the subject of young people a moment ago. Does he agree that the Government’s recent announcement of an additional 37 schools across the country to provide special needs support for people, including those on the autistic spectrum, is a welcome recognition of the challenges presented to our education system by the increasing prevalence, regrettably, of autism across our communities?

I would like to highlight one story in my constituency that points out the need for such schools. It involves a mother of two autistic children, both of whom have to be schooled over 100 miles away from Ludlow, in the heart of my constituency, where she lives. She has campaigned with a local charity and not-for-profit group to open a new school—Overton school, just outside Ludlow, which is currently awaiting its Ofsted accreditation—partly so that other families who have to deal with the same circumstances will not have to travel 100 miles to visit their children.

[Huw Merriman]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I know how much he campaigns to deliver the solution he talks about because I am fortunate enough to share an office with him. He is a great champion of his constituents, and it is welcome news that more schools will be funded. The Minister will have heard his powerful pitch for his constituency. I can also reassure all Members that I am only temporarily sitting in for my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham; she will continue to be the chairman of the all-party group. I will now make progress, as I know others wish to speak.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham continues:

“For many families of autistic children, securing the right support for their child at school is a very difficult task—much harder than it should be. I am sure we have all been contacted by constituents who are struggling to get the school provision and support their autistic children need—this may be a place at a specialist school, or support to enable them to thrive and make progress in a mainstream school…

There’s one other very important issue that I want to draw to the attention of the House and the Minister. That is the continued inclusion of autism in the Mental Health Act as a mental disorder.

What this means is that autistic people and those with a learning disability—particularly those who have behaviour that is described as ‘challenging’—can be detained under the Act when they do not have a treatable mental illness. When this is twinned with a lack of appropriate support, particularly crisis support, to prevent someone being admitted to hospital, we see the numbers of autistic people in these hospitals increase.”

I would like the Government to address that challenge and issue.

I will conclude—I have failed to deliver my right hon. Friend’s entire speech, but she will be delighted that we have had a debate about this and raised awareness, so I finish on the following note. She says:

“Autistic people—children and adults—need the right support, at the right time, in their local communities. The wider community needs to have a much better understanding of what autism is and how it affects people. There are things that all of us can do to make our society a more inclusive place for everyone—in World Autism Awareness Week and beyond”,

that should be our goal.