Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman entitled Improving ADHD and Autism Services: Commissioning with Confidence, if she will take steps to introduce new national commissioning guidance and an implementation framework for ADHD and autism assessments.

NHS England data shows that, in August 2026, the median waiting time between referral and second contact for adults and older adults with serious mental illness accessing community mental health services was 29 days for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, compared with 38 days for NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and 36 days for England. This is based on a three-month rolling reporting period.

For referrals where adults and older adults with serious mental illness were still waiting for a second contact at the end of the reporting period, the median waiting time was 47 days for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, compared with 84 days for NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB and 68 days for England.

On the wider issues raised, the Hon. Member will be aware that the Independent review into prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism, led by Professor Peter Fonagy, was published on 9 October, providing analysis and recommendations across a wide range of issues relating to the current provision of services in this area, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism assessments, and specialist psychiatric support for people with complex mental health needs.

The Government issued an initial response to Professor Fonagy’s report on the day of publication, including action to strengthen the oversight and regulation of ADHD and autism assessments, 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. The response is available at the following link:

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

The Government also remains fully committed to developing and publishing a revised cross-Government autism strategy in line with the Autism Act 2009. We will engage on the development of the revised autism strategy, including on whether the scope of the autism strategy should be extended to cover ADHD.