Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding allocated for social care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department regularly monitors the financial pressures facing the adult social care system and works closely with the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and HM Treasury to ensure funding meets the needs of the sector. At the Autumn Statement we made available up to £7.5 billion this year and next to support adult social care and discharge, a more than real terms increase.
We have also recently announced a further £570 million ‘Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) - Workforce Fund’ which will support increased adult social care capacity and improve market sustainability with a particular focus on workforce pay.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
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 include all people with a learning disability on the GP learning disability register.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Inclusion on the learning disability register is crucial to ensuring that people receive the right support at the right time. Anyone can ask to go on their general practitioner’s (GP’s) learning disability register if they think they have a learning disability. However, we know that not everyone with a learning disability is on a GP register. There is work underway in NHS England to address this issue. This includes work nationally and regionally to encourage children and young people to join the register at age 14 and access annual health checks. There is also evolving work to support people without a diagnosis of learning disability to access the register and more specialised services, which will inform guidance. Additionally, a leaflet for parents and carers was publicised in the National Health Service primary care bulletin and a bigger launch in schools is planned in September 2023
NHS England has issued guidance to support GPs to better identify people who should be on the register, including information on specific diagnostic codes, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to reform the social care charging system.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
As announced in the Autumn Statement, we listened to the concerns of local Government and took the difficult decision to delay the planned adult social care charging reforms.
The funding intended for charging reform has been retained in local authority budgets to address current pressures and ensure that local authorities have the capacity and system readiness to deliver reform successfully.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Autism Strategy, whether he plans to publish the research action plan for autism.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021 to 2026 included a commitment to develop a research action plan, setting out actions we will take to improve autism research and embed a culture of autism research by 2026.
We are currently prioritising updating the Autism Act statutory guidance to support the National Health Service and local authorities to deliver improved outcomes for autistic people in line with the national strategy. Following completion of the Autism Statutory Guidance, the Department will consider next steps in relation to a research action plan for autism.
In March 2022, NHS England published a five-year NHS autism research strategy which aims to facilitate the use of the best current evidence when making decisions about autism services provided by or paid for by the NHS in England.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to reduce the backlog of 143,119 people waiting for an autism assessment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Rt Hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells on 8 September 2023 to Question 195909.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is routinely provided to children and young people on the waiting list for an autism assessment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
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 and young people. 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.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance provides information on facilitating appropriate pre-assessment support while people are waiting for an assessment and will help improve the experience of people, including children and young people, who are awaiting an autism assessment. In 2023/24, £4.2 million is available to improve services for autistic children and young people, as well as pre and post diagnostic support, including the continuation of the ‘Autism in Schools’ programme.
This year, the Department of Health and Social Care is also working on updating the Statutory Guidance on Autism to support the National Health Service and local authorities to deliver improved outcomes for autistic people.
In the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, the Department for Education set out the intention to improve mainstream education through setting national standards for early identification of need and timely access to support. The Department for Education will also develop new practice guides to support frontline professionals. The first three practice guides will be published by the end of 2025, focusing on advice for mainstream settings, and will include a practice guide on autism.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is routinely provided to adults on the waiting list for an autism assessment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
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.
Additionally, each ICB must have an Executive Lead for learning disability and autism to support them to deliver care and support for autistic people in their area. NHS England has published statutory guidance on these Executive Lead roles.
NHS England has published a national framework and operational guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. The guidance aims to support integrated care systems to make the best of their resources by setting out how pathways can best be delivered. This guidance provides information on facilitating appropriate pre-assessment support while people are waiting for an assessment and will help improve the experience of people who are awaiting an autism assessment.
This year, the Department is also working on updating the Statutory Guidance on Autism to support the National Health Service and local authorities to deliver improved outcomes for autistic people.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is routinely provided to adults after receiving an autism diagnosis.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for York Outer on 12 September 2023 to Question 197738.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to reduce the backlog of 1,315 people waiting for an autism assessment in south-east London.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
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.
Each ICB in England 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.
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.
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.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is routinely provided to children and young people after receiving an autism diagnosis.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for York Outer on 12 September 2023 to Question 197738.