Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve access to personalised, evidenced, community-based mental health services as recommended in the National Autistic Society’s Left Stranded report and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism’s The Autism Act, 10 Years On report.

The NHS Long Term Plan commits to investing at least £2.3 billion of extra funding a year in mental health services by 2023/24 to support adults and children, including autistic people. This includes a focus on improving access to community mental health services.

We are currently developing a new cross-government all-age autism strategy, which will consider autistic people’s mental health needs. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism’s report informed the strategy’s development, as did the National Autistic Society’s Left Stranded report, which highlighted the impact of COVID-19 on autistic people.