Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers with responsibility for providing careers advice have had training in autism.

The Department for Education (DfE) does not hold information on the number of teachers with responsibility for careers advice who have been trained in autism.

Since 2011 the DfE has funded the Autism Education Trust (AET) www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk to deliver autism training at three levels to staff in early years, school and post-16 settings. Level 1 training is a basic 90-minute awareness session and Levels 2 and 3 are more in depth and aimed at staff who are working with autistic pupils on a daily basis. The AET has also developed a competency framework and standards for supporting pupils with autism.

To date, the AET has trained more than 130,000 people – not just teachers and teaching assistants, but also support staff such as receptionists, dining hall staff and caretakers.