Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is routinely provided to children and young people on the waiting list for an autism assessment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) to have due regard to relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on autism when commissioning services for children and young people. It is the responsibility of ICBs to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with these NICE guidelines.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance provides information on facilitating appropriate pre-assessment support while people are waiting for an assessment and will help improve the experience of people, including children and young people, who are awaiting an autism assessment. In 2023/24, £4.2 million is available to improve services for autistic children and young people, as well as pre and post diagnostic support, including the continuation of the ‘Autism in Schools’ programme.
This year, the Department of Health and Social Care is also working on updating the Statutory Guidance on Autism to support the National Health Service and local authorities to deliver improved outcomes for autistic people.
In the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, the Department for Education set out the intention to improve mainstream education through setting national standards for early identification of need and timely access to support. The Department for Education will also develop new practice guides to support frontline professionals. The first three practice guides will be published by the end of 2025, focusing on advice for mainstream settings, and will include a practice guide on autism.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is routinely provided to adults on the waiting list for an autism assessment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) to have due regard to relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on autism when commissioning services. It is the responsibility of ICBs to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with these NICE guidelines.
Additionally, each ICB must have an Executive Lead for learning disability and autism to support them to deliver care and support for autistic people in their area. NHS England has published statutory guidance on these Executive Lead roles.
NHS England has published a national framework and operational guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. The guidance aims to support integrated care systems to make the best of their resources by setting out how pathways can best be delivered. This guidance provides information on facilitating appropriate pre-assessment support while people are waiting for an assessment and will help improve the experience of people who are awaiting an autism assessment.
This year, the Department is also working on updating the Statutory Guidance on Autism to support the National Health Service and local authorities to deliver improved outcomes for autistic people.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is routinely provided to adults after receiving an autism diagnosis.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for York Outer on 12 September 2023 to Question 197738.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to reduce the backlog of 1,315 people waiting for an autism assessment in south-east London.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) to have due regard to relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on autism when commissioning services. It is the responsibility of ICBs to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with these NICE guidelines.
Each ICB in England is expected to have an Executive Lead for learning disability and autism, supporting the Board in planning to meet the needs of its local population of people with a learning disability and autistic people, including in relation to appropriate autism assessment pathways. NHS England has published guidance on these roles.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance will help the National Health Service improve autism assessment pathways and improve the experience for people referred to an autism assessment service.
In addition, NHS England publish quarterly data on how many people are waiting for an autism assessment and for how long. These are experimental statistics; however, the data does provide useful information nationally and locally to support local areas to improve their performance and to reduce assessment waiting times.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is routinely provided to children and young people after receiving an autism diagnosis.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for York Outer on 12 September 2023 to Question 197738.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on implementing the recommendations in the report by Red Quadrant entitled Building the Right Support: An analysis of funding flows, published in July 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We recognise the need to improve how data is collected and better understand the specific costs related to Building the Right Support. That is why the Building the Right Support Delivery Board set up a Funding Flows task and finish group to look at how to improve national oversight of National Health Service and local authority spend.
The Funding Flows task and finish group has been assessing the feasibility of collating information from existing NHS and Local Government datasets to support this and will make recommendations for next steps to the Building the Right Support Delivery Board in due course.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on delivering the Building the Right Support Action Plan.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Significant progress has been made in implementing the Building the Right Support Action Plan, which contains a mix of short-term and long-term commitments.
Since publication of the Plan in July 2022, the majority of the shorter-term commitments due to complete to date, 19 of 27, have now been delivered, and there are mitigations in place for those that have not.
For the longer-term commitments, some of which have completion dates of 2025 and beyond, the majority are on track to be delivered as expected. Mitigations are in place for the small number of commitments that are currently off track to be delivered by their expected completion date.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has provided to integrated care systems on delivering his Department's Building the Right Support Action Plan; and what assessment he has made of the progress made by integrated care systems on delivering that Plan.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Building the Right Support Action Plan brings together commitments from across Government and public services, and all of these commitments have clear owners and dates for delivery. It is the responsibility of commitment owners to ensure that their commitments are delivered as set out in the Plan. While the majority of the commitments in the Plan are on a national level, commitment owners will involve local systems where relevant.
In May 2023, NHS England published statutory guidance on Executive Lead roles including the requirement to have a lead for learning disability and autism and a lead for Down syndrome and for special educational needs and disability.
The integrated care board (ICB) executive lead for learning disability and autism will support the chief executive and the board to ensure that the ICB performs its functions effectively in the interests of people with a learning disability and autistic people.
The NHS Long Term Plan 2019 sets out our commitments to reduce reliance on mental health inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people. This commitment was re-confirmed in planning guidance for local systems for 2023/24, which is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/2023-24-priorities-and-operational-planning-guidance/
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review the operation of the Minimum Income Guarantee.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 June 2023 to Question 188068.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State of Health and Social Care, whether he plans to reform the social care charging system.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 15 June 2023 to Question 188067.