Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure children with autism receive adequate support in Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting people with neurodevelopmental conditions, including autistic people of all ages. Autistic children and people should have the right support in place, tailored to their individual needs, to live well in their communities. The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will make the National Health Service fit for the future, and reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system focus on improving early intervention and support.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to appropriate mental health support and services, as well as access to autism assessments and support, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
Through the Medium-Term Planning Framework, published 24 October, NHS England has set clear expectations for local ICBs and trusts to improve access, experience, and outcomes for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder services over the next three years, focusing on improving quality and productivity. There are also clear expectations that ICBs and providers fulfil their statutory SEND duties and support the Government’s SEND reform plans.
The Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB is working with system partners to review children and young people’s autism services and pathways to improve access to a system-wide, stepped support offer that aligns with current and emerging guidance.
The service aims to launch a new support and assessment model from April 2027. However, the autism support pathway redesign is part of a broader spectrum of work and transformation, owned by the health, care, and education system across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, and is a key priority in delivery plans for both city and county SEND programmes.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of the signs of autism in adults.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting people with neurodevelopmental conditions, including autistic people, and we are taking action to increase awareness and understanding of autism across the health and social care sector, education, and employment.
The Health and Care Act 2022 requires that, from 1 July 2022, health and care providers registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) must ensure their staff receive specific training on autism appropriate to their role. This will ensure that health and care staff have the right knowledge and skills to provide safe and appropriate care for autistic people. As part of this, significant progress has been made to roll out the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism which has been designed and is delivered alongside people with lived experience. Over three million people have now completed the e-learning component of the training and the statutory Code of Practice for this training has been published.
NHS England has also taken action to increase understanding of autism within mental health services specifically by supporting the transition of the National Autism Trainer Programme in mental health services to become embedded 'business as usual' training. 5,000 trainers have been trained who will be cascading the training to teams across mental health services, residential special schools and colleges, and youth justice settings. NHS England also commissioned the Royal College of Psychiatrists to deliver the National Autism Training Programme for Psychiatrists, with over 300 psychiatrists trained in the past three years.
Work is also underway to raise awareness of autism in education settings. The Schools White Paper, Every child achieving and thriving, and consultation on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms published on 23 February outline plans to increase education staff understanding of SEND, including autism, through improved training and better access to experts, building on the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programme. The Every child achieving and thriving White Paper is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/every-child-achieving-and-thriving
The Government is also committed to raising awareness of all forms of neurodiversity, including autism, in the workplace and the Department for Work and Pensions launched an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity in January 2025 to advise on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work.
Government responsibility for delivering research into autism is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation, which includes the Medical Research Council (MRC).
The MRC generally focusses on early biomedical research, including cellular and animal models, while the NIHR funds translational and applied research, where treatments and interventions are tested in real world populations and health and care settings. An example of NIHR investment in autism research is the £2.8 million SAFE trial, which aims to develop interventions to better support and improve the wellbeing of families of autistic children. As well as funding research itself, the Department of Health and Social Care invests significantly in research expertise and capacity, specialist facilities, support services, and collaborations to support and deliver research in England, known as NIHR infrastructure. This includes the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, which has supported research into the brain signalling of individuals with autism to help develop a range of targeted medicine choices.
The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including autism.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to support research into (a) causes and (b) treatment of bowel cancer.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government responsibility for delivering cancer research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation, which includes the Medical Research Council (MRC).
The MRC generally focusses on early biomedical research, including cellular and animal models, while the NIHR funds translational and applied research, where treatments and interventions are tested in real world populations and health and care settings.
The Department of Health and Social Care recognises the crucial need for research into all forms of cancer, including bowel cancer. We are supporting research into bowel cancer across a range of areas.
This includes, for example, over £2.2 million of NIHR investment in the CONSCOP2 study, a randomised controlled trial designed to investigate a new approach to screening for right sided bowel cancer.
As well as funding research itself, the Department of Health and Social Care invests significantly in centres of excellence and collaborations, services, and facilities to support health and care research. Collectively these form the NIHR infrastructure. The NIHR infrastructure works with patients, clinicians, academics, and health services to support research into the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of bowel cancer. This includes the development of novel diagnostics, biomarkers, and therapeutic approaches as well as ensuring that effective bowel cancer innovations, once proven, are implemented nationally.
The NIHR continues to welcome high quality applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including bowel cancer. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to the public and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
In addition, the National Cancer Plan has patients at its heart and covers the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention, and research and innovation. It seeks to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experience and outcomes for people with cancer. This plan prepares the National Health Service to seize scientific breakthroughs, so patients benefit from the full power of modern innovation, by trialing new technologies such as the COLOFIT algorithm for bowel cancer.