Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the funding gap between research spending on adult autism and other health conditions.

The Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including adult autism. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the potential impact of the proposal on patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.

Research currently funded by the NIHR includes a £0.8 million study entitled Supporting adults with high functioning autism and asperger syndrome: mapping and evaluating specialist autism team service models, and a £0.4 million study of guided self-help for depression in adults with autism spectrum disorders.

The Department’s Policy Research Programme has recently funded a project which aimed to synthesise both research evidence relevant to low-level support for people with high functioning autism and information on current practice and service provision in England. This research was undertaken by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York and the Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University College London.