Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to develop an adapted Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme people with autism.

There are no current plans to develop an adapted Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme for autistic people. Therapy is available, via self-referral or referral from a professional, to all adults experiencing a common mental health disorder.

IAPT provides evidence based psychological therapies as recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines for the treatment of depression and anxiety. NICE guidelines will be followed where there are adjustments required to therapy delivery for particular groups of people, including autistic people.

Reasonable adjustments that may be required to make it suitable for autistic people might include, for example, the method of delivery or duration of the intervention.