Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve its (a) estimate of and (b) support for people with neurodiversity in the criminal justice system.

We are committed to ensuring the Criminal Justice System (CJS) treats all those who encounter it fairly – including neurodivergent individuals. That is why my department has commissioned an independent Call for Evidence (CfE) to obtain a clearer picture of neurodiversity throughout the CJS, including police, with the final report due to be published in early Summer 2021.

The CfE will help us to both estimate and examine the national provision and identify areas of good practice for neurodivergence within the CJS. This will enable us to understand what happens to neurodivergent people now and how we can better support them to realise better outcomes.

The MoJ is currently working across government as part of the Cabinet Office-led National Strategy for Disabled People. This represents a real opportunity to feed in policy developed from the findings from the CfE and develop a cross-government wide approach to support people with disabilities including neurodivergent individuals.

My department is also contributing to the Department of Health and Social Care’s refresh of the cross-government Autism Strategy. Our contribution to the strategy will include work to improve data capture on autism, and to increase – through training and awareness – the ability of prison and probation staff to better understand and support these individuals.