Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure adequate provision of support services for 16 and 17 year olds with autism and sensory issues who have left full time education but do not yet have access to adult services.

Through implementation of our national autism strategy, published on 21 July 2021, we are taking action to enable positive transitions into adulthood for autistic children and young people.

We are investing £121 million in 2023/24, including for Children and Young People’s keyworkers, to improve community support for autistic people and people with a learning disability as part of the NHS Long Term Plan. In addition, in 2023/2024, £4.2 million of funding is available to improve services for autistic children and young people aged 0 to 25 years old, including post-diagnostic support.

On 2 March 2023, the Department for Education published the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision Improvement plan in response to the Green Paper published in March last year. As part of this, the Department is currently exploring good practice on transitions, to provide consistent, timely, high-quality preparation for children and young people with SEND, including autistic children and young people, when they transition between different stages of their education, into employment, or adult social care services. Following this, the Department for Education will publish guidance to support effective transitions between all stages of education, and into employment and adult services by the end of 2025.