Autism Awareness Campaign - United Kingdom

Autism Questions in Parliament
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Parliamentarians of all parties have raised questions in the House of Commons and the House of Lords in support of the Autism Awareness Campaign UK.

Linda Perham (Ilford North): To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what plans his Department has to enable autistic young people to follow further education and higher education courses.
 
  Linda Perham (Ilford North): To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what plans he has to introduce ring-fenced funding in education for children with autism.
   
 

Linda Perham (Ilford North): To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what the form is of assessment for autistic children in (a) mainstream and (b) special schools.

Linda Perham (Ilford North): To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will introduce an autism compact with employers to make it easier for autistic people to gain access to employment.

Linda Perham (Ilford North): To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to ensure that the rights of autistic people are protected under the Mental Health Acts.

Linda Perham (Ilford North): To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what plans he has to introduce a specific qualification for young people with (a) autism and (b) similar disabilities.

Baroness Uddin asked Her Majesty's Government:

    How they will ensure the provision of specialist speech therapy for children with autism.

Lord Warner: Primary care trusts have the responsibility of improving the health of the community, securing the provision of high quality services, and integrating health and social care locally. They have the resources to commission services, and to identify the number of professional staff that they need to deliver those services. This process provides the means for addressing local needs within the health community including the provision of specialist speech and language therapy.

Baroness Uddin asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What plans they have to introduce a register of children with autism.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): The Children Act 1989 requires every local authority to open and maintain a register of disabled children within their area. This information would include children with autism and is used for the purposes of planning and providing appropriate social services. The registration of disabled children by parents is entirely voluntary, and is not required as a condition of receiving services from local authorities.

There is also a statutory duty upon health services and primary care trusts, under the Education Act 1993, in the exercise of any of their functions in relation to a child under the age of five years, where a question of special educational needs arises, to inform the child's parents of this, to discuss the situation with them, to suggest recourse to any voluntary organisation which is likely to be able to advise and assist further, and to bring the matter to the attention of the child's local education authority.

At present all children are registered on a child health information system which is funded by their local primary care trust. The systems and information collected vary slightly from area to area. However there is a model health record on which these systems are based and further consideration is being given to adapting the model to maximise its usefulness as part of the development of the National Service Framework (NSF) for Children. Officials are considering an information management and technology strategy. This will include identifying information requirements for the delivery of the NSF.