Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many staff in his Department have received autism awareness training.
The Department does not collect information on how many of its staff have received autism awareness training. However following the success of its own pilot sessions, the Department will be offering further autism awareness sessions to staff over the summer.
Through the Cross Government Autism Strategy, most recently updated as Think Autism, we have worked alongside people with autism, their families and carers to improve their lives and mortality through better access to healthcare by making adjustments for their conditions. This includes supporting the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGPs) Autism Initiative to improve understanding of autism amongst GPs.
Information on how many people with autism were admitted to hospital as an emergency in 2015 is not collected by the Department.