Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many and what proportion of people in assessment and treatment units are known to have autism spectrum disorder; and of those, how many are children.

The Learning Disabilities Census conducted by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) indicates that 3,250 learning disabilities services users were in hospital in England at midnight on 30 September 2013. This includes 1,087 (33.4%) with autistic spectrum disorder (including Asperger’s Syndrome). Autistic spectrum disorder (including Asperger’s Syndrome) was the main reason for the hospital admission of 321 (9.9%) learning disabilities service users.

The HSCIC has also reported that the Learning Disabilities Census 2013 indicated that 185 of those in hospital (representing 5.7% of all learning disabilities service users) were under 18 years of age. Of these, 88 have autistic spectrum disorder (including Asperger’s Syndrome). Autistic spectrum disorder (including Asperger’s Syndrome) was the main reason for the hospital admission of 28 people under the age of 18 years.