Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the development of the next national Autism Strategy is co-produced with autistic people and their families.

The Autism Act 2009 places a duty on my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to consult on, publish, and keep under review a national strategy for meeting the needs of autistic adults in England. My Rt Hon. Friend may choose to revise the strategy, and if so, must publish it as revised.

We are committed to publishing a new cross-Government autism strategy. The current strategy will remain in effect until a revised strategy is published. We are carefully considering our approach to developing a new autism strategy, including our plans to work with other Government departments and engage with stakeholders, including autistic people and their families, and will set out a position in due course.

We recognise that a large amount of evidence was gathered by the House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Inquiry Committee and we will consider this evidence, along with evidence from other government and independent reviews, papers, and reports. We recognise that meaningful engagement takes time, so a balance will need to be struck on the extent of the further engagement required.