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1727482

registered interest
date	04/09/2024
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Autism: Diagnosis
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve (1) the diagnosis of autism, and (2) support for those who are assessed as having autism.
tabling member printed	Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick
uin	HL759
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/09/2024 answer text <p>The Department is currently considering the next steps to improving diagnostic assessment and support for autistic people. It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism assessment and support services, in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.</p><p>On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. This guidance will help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also sets out what support should be available before an assessment, and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism, based on the available evidence.</p><p>In 2024/25, £4.3 million is available nationally to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.</p> answering member printed Baroness Merron question first answered 12/09/2024 16:35:56 answering member 347 label Biography information for Baroness Merron
tabling member	4130 label Biography information for Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

1724060

registered interest
date	29/07/2024
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Autism: Diagnosis
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for children requiring an autism assessment.
tabling member constituency	Poole
tabling member printed	Neil Duncan-Jordan
uin	2221
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/09/2024 answer text <p>The Department is currently considering next steps to improve access to autism assessments. We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) to have due regard to relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on autism, when commissioning services for children, young people, and adults. It is the responsibility of ICBs to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with these NICE guidelines.</p><p>On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. This guidance will help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. In 2024/25, £4.3 million is available nationally to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.</p> answering member constituency Aberafan Maesteg answering member printed Stephen Kinnock question first answered 02/09/2024 11:59:55 answering member 4359 label Biography information for Stephen Kinnock
tabling member	5359

1713893

registered interest
date	25/04/2024
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Autism: Diagnosis
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much her Department spent on autism assessments in each of the last five years; how much funding her Department has allocated to autism assessments in each of the next three years; and what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of that funding in meeting the target waiting time for such an assessment.
tabling member constituency	Romsey and Southampton North
tabling member printed	Caroline Nokes
uin	23733
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/05/2024 answer text <p>Information on the total spend on autism assessments is not held centrally. NHS England is responsible for funding allocations to integrated care boards (ICBs), which are responsible for commissioning services using these core allocations to meet the needs of their local populations, including autism assessment services. The following table shows the total baseline expenditure in ICBs for learning disability and autism services over the last five years, disaggregated for autism services where possible:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Learning disability</p></td><td><p>Autism services</p></td><td><p>Unseparated learning disability and autism services</p></td><td><p>Total</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2019/20</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>£1,809,200,000</p></td><td><p>£1,809,200,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020/21</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>£2,285,600,000</p></td><td><p>£2,285,600,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2021/22</p></td><td><p>£85,800,000</p></td><td><p>£3,700,000</p></td><td><p>£2,268,300,000</p></td><td><p>£2,357,900,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2022/23</p></td><td><p>£625,800,000</p></td><td><p>£27,100,000</p></td><td><p>£1,928,800,000</p></td><td><p>£2,581,700,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2023/24</p></td><td><p>£926,000,000</p></td><td><p>£47,100,000</p></td><td><p>£1,928,800,000</p></td><td><p>£2,904,600,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>In addition, specific funding has been allocated to ICBs in 2023/4 and 2024/25 from the Service Development Funding, to improve autism assessment waiting lists and pathways. The following table shows information on the additional national funding allocated to ICBs by NHS England, over each of the last five years, to improve autism assessment waiting lists and pathways:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Service Development Funding via the NHS Long Term Plan Transformation Funding</p></td><td><p>Spending Review 2021 via the COVID-19 Recovery Fund</p></td><td><p>Total funding for autism assessment pathways</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2019/20</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020/21</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2021/22</p></td><td><p>£2,500,000</p></td><td><p>£14,500,000</p></td><td><p>£17,000,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2022/23</p></td><td><p>£5,000,000</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>£5,000,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2023/24</p></td><td><p>£4,200,000</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>£4,200,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2024/25</p></td><td><p>£4,300,000</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>£4,300,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Notes:</p><ol><li>the in-year pay uplift for 2023/24 is not reflected in the table;</li><li>the service development funding allocations shown in the table are in addition to the ICBs core funding allocations.</li></ol><p>The NHS Operational and Planning Guidance 2024/25 asks local systems to improve autism assessment pathways, through implementation of the NHS England autism assessment national framework. Allocations from 2025/26 onwards are subject to future decisions on spending. Further information on the operational and planning guidance and national framework is available respectively at the following links:</p><p><a href="https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-25-priorities-and-operational-planning-guidance-v1.1.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-25-priorities-and-operational-planning-guidance-v1.1.pdf</a></p><p><a href="https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/autism-diagnosis-and-operational-guidance/" target="_blank">https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/autism-diagnosis-and-operational-guidance/</a></p><p>A specific assessment of the adequacy of funding in meeting the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s waiting time standard for autism assessments has not been made. However, autism waiting times statistics are published on a quarterly basis. The total number of people with an open referral, where the diagnosis not yet completed, for suspected autism has increased by 47%, from 117,032 in December 2022 to 172,022 in December 2023. In December 2023, it was estimated that only 5.9% of patients whose referrals have been open in the system for at least 13 weeks received their first contact appointment within 13 weeks.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 01/05/2024 13:09:11 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield previous answer version 31577 answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes

1696420

registered interest
date	15/03/2024
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Autism: Diagnosis
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of average waiting times for autism assessments on other health and care services.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	18945
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2024 answer text <p>There are no current plans to make this specific assessment. We recognise the importance of early identification of autism so that an individual’s needs can be identified sooner, and support put in place earlier in life.</p><p>The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines on autism highlight the importance of conducting an autism assessment as soon as possible so that appropriate health and social care interventions, and advice and support, can be offered. It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with the NICE’s guidelines.</p><p>In April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance will help the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults. The operational guidance makes it clear that people should be able to access support and care from other services for needs that appear linked to physical and mental health, including while they are waiting for an autism assessment. This year, the Department is updating the Statutory Guidance on Autism to support the NHS and local authorities in delivering improved outcomes for autistic people.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 22/03/2024 15:31:50 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1675402

registered interest
date	05/12/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Autism: Diagnosis
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for an adult autism diagnosis.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Hall Green
tabling member printed	Tahir Ali
uin	5286
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/12/2023 answer text <p>Data on the average waiting times between referral for an autism assessment and diagnosis is not held centrally. Some data is held on average length of time between referral and first care contact. NHS England analysis indicates that, as of June 2023, for people aged 18 years old and over, there were 3,730 referrals for suspected autism where the date of first care contact falls within the period April to June 2023, which is the latest quarter available. The median waiting time for these referrals was 225 days.</p><p>The autism assessment waiting times data published on 14 September 2023 showed that the number of patients aged 18 years old and over with an open referral for suspected autism was 59,099 in June 2023. The data also showed that, in June 2023, 2,906 patients, or 5.8%, aged 18 years old and over with an open suspected autism referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, received a first appointment in 13 weeks or less. The subsequent waiting times publication is 14 December 2023.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 13/12/2023 13:18:11 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4747 label Biography information for Tahir Ali

1674068

registered interest
date	29/11/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Autism: Diagnosis
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to reduce waiting lists for autism assessments (a) nationally and (b) in County Durham.
tabling member constituency	City of Durham
tabling member printed	Mary Kelly Foy
uin	4566
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2023 answer text <p>We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) to have due regard to relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on autism when commissioning services. It is the responsibility of ICBs to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with these NICE guidelines.</p><p>Each ICB in England, including in the North East and North Cumbria, is expected to have an Executive Lead for learning disability and autism, supporting the board in planning to meet the needs of its local population of people with a learning disability and autistic people, including in relation to appropriate autism assessment pathways. NHS England has published guidance on these roles.</p><p>On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance will help the National Health Service improve autism assessment pathways and improve the experience for people referred to an autism assessment service.</p><p>In addition, NHS England publish quarterly data on how many people are waiting for an autism assessment and for how long. These are experimental statistics; however, the data does provide useful information nationally and locally to support local areas to improve their performance and to reduce assessment waiting times.</p><p>We have invested in improving autism assessment services over recent years. Building on the 2021/22 investment of £13 million, we invested £2.5 million in 2022/23 to support local areas with improvements in autism assessment pathways. In 2023/2024, £4.2 million of funding is available across England to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 07/12/2023 12:59:11 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4753 label Biography information for Mary Kelly Foy

1674188

registered interest
date	29/11/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Autism: Diagnosis
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve early diagnosis and support for individuals with autism, particularly in educational and healthcare settings.
tabling member printed	Lord Browne of Belmont
uin	HL695
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/12/2023 answer text <p>The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education to ensure that children and young people with Special Educational Need and Disability (SEND), including autistic children, receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time. We are doing this through working together to implement the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, which was published 2 March 2023</p><p><br> In 2023/24, £4.2 million is available to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services, pre and post diagnostic support, and the continuation of the Autism in Schools programme</p><p><br> On 22 November 2023, we announced the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programme. This new programme, backed by £13m of investment, is a partnership between the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Education and NHS England. It will bring together ICBs, local authorities, and schools, working in partnership with parents and carers to support schools to better meet the needs of neurodiverse children, including autistic children. The programme is expected to reach around 10% of mainstream primary schools. It will be evaluated, and learning will be used to inform future policy development around how schools support neurodiverse children.</p> answering member printed Lord Markham question first answered 13/12/2023 16:53:02 answering member 4948 label Biography information for Lord Markham
tabling member	3801 label Biography information for Lord Browne of Belmont

1672666

registered interest
date	23/11/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Autism: Diagnosis
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the average length time (a) children and (b) adults wait for an autism assessment (i) nationally and (ii) in York.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	3500
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2023 answer text <p>The data requested is not held centrally. However, some relevant information can be drawn from the Mental Health Services Data Set.</p><p>Whilst data is not available at a constituency level, it is available at the integrated care system (ICS) level. According to the latest Autism Waiting Time Statistics in June 2023, nationally 6% of adults, whose referrals have been open for at least 13 weeks, received their first contact appointment within 13 weeks. In Humber and North Yorkshire, this was higher at 11%.</p><p>Nationally, in June 2023, for children aged between 0 to 17 years old, 7% had their first appointment within 13 weeks compared to 3% in Humber and North Yorkshire. Data on children and young people in this dataset is expected to be an underestimate. Caution should be used when interpreting these statistics since they are experimental rather than official statistics.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 28/11/2023 12:05:28 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1672667

registered interest
date	23/11/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Autism: Diagnosis
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of staff available to conduct autism assessments for (a) children and (b) adults (i) nationally and (ii) in York.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	3501
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2023 answer text <p>The National Framework for autism assessment services, published by NHS England in April 2023, recognises the need to increase the supply of specialist workforce for autism assessment services.</p><p>The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce; this is backed by over £2.4 billion over the next five years to fund additional education and training places. We aim to increase training places by 26% for both clinical psychology and child and adolescent psychotherapy by 2031, taking the combined number of training places to over 1,300. Training places will be more than 1,000 each year up to 2028/29.</p><p>In addition to education and training for clinical psychologists and child and adolescent psychotherapists, over the next three years, NHS England has committed funding of over £600 million to grow the wider psychological professions workforce through training approximately 15,000 more individuals to undertake psychological therapist and psychological practitioner roles.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 28/11/2023 10:09:53 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1672668

registered interest
date	23/11/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Autism: Diagnosis
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she has taken to assess the quality of autism assessments undertaken in the private sector.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	3502
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2023 answer text <p>We have not made an assessment of the quality of autism assessments that have not been commissioned by the National Health Service.</p><p>It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population. We are clear that commissioners should take National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines fully into account ensuring that NHS services commissioned from the private sector represent an effective use of NHS resources. More information on the NICE guidelines is available at the following links:</p><p><a href="https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg142" target="_blank">https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg142</a></p><p><a href="https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg128" target="_blank">https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg128</a></p><p>The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is considering the remit of its regulatory duties, and registration, of online autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnostic assessment services as part of CQC’s new regulatory approach to assessment and inspection of CQC-registered health services.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 28/11/2023 17:36:32 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell