Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the average time children under 11 wait for a completed assessment with the Autism Assessment Service (a) nationally and (b) in Gloucestershire; and if he will make a statement.

There are no current plans to make a specific assessment.

However, the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) shows that in the year from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022 in England, the median waiting time for patients aged under 11 years old, with an open referral for suspected autism to receive a first contact appointment was 251 days. We are unable to provide the average waiting time for Gloucestershire in this period as there were less than five open referrals.

NHS England South West is working closely with regional integrated care boards (ICBs) and NHS England National team to improve the data collection of autism diagnosis waits. In addition, NHS England South West continues to work with regional ICBs to support the improvement of autism diagnosis and waiting times for children, young people and adults supported with a regional investment of £1.68 million over three years.