Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average length of time is between the first appointment with a GP and obtaining a full diagnosis of female autism; and if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of NHS procedures for diagnosing that condition; and whether he plans to improve those procedures.

The information requested is not held in the format requested. NHS Digital began reporting experimental data on waiting times for autism assessments in November 2019. However, this data is not available by gender and does not report an average waiting time between referral and diagnosis. While no specific assessment of the effectiveness of autism diagnostic procedures for women and girls has been made, the 2019 public call for evidence to inform the autism strategy received evidence about the barriers women and girls experienced in the diagnosis process. NHS England and NHS Improvement are reviewing ways to improve the quality of diagnosis for women and girls to ensure the effectiveness of autism diagnostic pathways. In addition, an early identification of autism pilot is also testing whether identification and diagnosis of girls can be improved.