PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Autism: Health Services (16 October 2019)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will issue guidance on the duties of (a) statutory health providers and (b) local authorities in meeting the care needs of adults with autism.

Asked by:
Jonathan Reynolds (Labour)

The Autism Act 2009 places a duty on the Secretary of
State for Health and Social Care to publish a strategy for meeting the needs of
autistic adults in England, and to review it periodically.

In April 2014, the cross-Government adult autism strategy,
‘Think Autism’, was published. Statutory guidance for local authorities and National
Health Service organisations was published in March 2015 to support the adult
autism strategy’s implementation.

We are currently reviewing the cross-Government autism
strategy and extending it to include children and young people. The Government
expects to publish the revised all age autism strategy by the end of the
calendar year.

Answered by:
Dame Caroline Dinenage (Conservative)
24 October 2019