Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve provision to meet the educational needs of children with autism.

This reply covers support for the needs of children with autism in England. The Northern Ireland Assembly has devolved responsibility for education policy.

The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced significant reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system in England which better supports children and young people with autism in the education system. The new statutory framework ensures that support is focused on needs and aspirations, enabling all pupils, including those with autism, to achieve better outcomes in education and adult life.

Since the Act came into force in September 2014, there have been a number of significant changes to the SEND system in England which benefit children and young people with autism. This includes the publication of ‘local offers’ of SEND services by local authorities, the introduction of streamlined education, health and care needs assessments and plans, and new statutory protections for young people aged 16-25 in further education.

The Act also makes provision to ensure that parents, children and young people are able to access impartial information, advice and support about the SEND system. This is available through a local, dedicated and easily identifiable service which includes help to prepare them for meetings with schools, health professionals or other agencies that may be supporting them in their education.

Under the Department’s Free Schools programme, there are now 19 special free schools open across England, including several that are specifically for children with autism, such as the Rise free school in Hounslow, the Lighthouse free school in Leeds and the National Autistic Society’s Church Lawton free school in Cheshire. There are a further 14 special free schools due to open in the future, seven of which will specialise in provision for children with autism, including the Heartlands Autism free school in Haringey and a second National Autistic Society free school, the Vanguard free school in Lambeth. Several of the other schools will offer some places for children with autism.

The Department has contracted with the Autism Education Trust to deliver autism training to education professionals in England. The Trust has now trained approaching 100,000 education staff since 2012. The training offered by the Autism Education Trust incorporates the learning from previous work by Ambitious about Autism on strategies for supporting transition from school to college and the contract also covers a service provided by the National Autistic Society which provides information and advice to parents and professionals on exclusions.