Autism: Hornsey and Wood Green

(asked on 14th April 2023) - View Source

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 specialist autism support services for children with autism in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency.


Answered by
Maria Caulfield Portrait
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This question was answered on 19th April 2023

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICB) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population including autism services in lines with relevant clinical guidelines.

Locally, NHS North Central London ICB is working closely with the local parent/carer representation on how to evaluate the experience of families who require specialist autism support services and gather their qualitative perspective on the strengths and gaps in local services.

NHS North Central London ICB, in partnership with the local health Trust, has launched a keyworker programme specifically for children and young people with learning difficulties and who are autistic who require more specialist support to remain in the community and family setting, benefiting all children in Haringey.

NHS North Central London ICB has invested additional funding to support families before and after an autism assessment through provision from the local voluntary and community sector.

Nationally, we are taking steps to improve autism services including in the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency. NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services, on 5 April 2023. These documents are intended to help National Health Service and local authorities improve autism assessment services and improve the experience for adults and children who are going through an autism assessment. They also set out what support should be available before an assessment and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism.

In 2022/23 we invested £2.5 million, nationally, to test and embed improved autism diagnostic pathways. In 2023/24 there is national funding of £4.2 million to improve services for autistic children and young people, including to continue to transform and develop autism assessment and diagnosis and pre- and post-diagnostic support to children and young people aged 0 to 25 years old for the continuation of the Autism in Schools programme.

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