Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of formal minimum wait times for autism assessments by some Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in England.

The independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism, led by Professor Peter Fonagy, was published on 9 October, providing analysis and recommendations across a wide range of issues, including delays in securing autism assessments.

The Government issued an initial response on the day of publication, available at the link below, but we will set out the full action we are taking in response to the review recommendations in our new Mental Health Strategy to be published later this year, which will be relevant to the issues raised by the Hon Member.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-pledges-earlier-support-to-tackle-mental-health-crises