Politics Resources

More about The Autism Act

In November 2009 the UK Parliament passed the Autism Act.

The Act made two key provisions:

  1. That the Government produced an adult autism strategy by 1st April 2010.
  2. That the Secretary of State for Health issue statutory guidance for local authorities and local health bodies on supporting the needs of adults with autism by 31st December 2010.

Click here to find out more from the NAS on the Autism Act 2009 and The Adult Autism Strategy

Please note that the Autism Act 2009 does not cover Wales as the ASD Strategic Action Plan for Wales was already in place at this time.

More about the Cross Party Groups on Autism

  • In the UK Parliament:
    The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism (APPGA) was established in February 2000 to raise parliamentary awareness of autism and campaign for changes to government policy. Members of the APPGA come from all the major political parties, working together to promote the interests of people with autism and their carers.
  • In the Welsh Assembly:
    In Wales healthcare services are devolved from the UK Parliament and are under the governance of the Welsh Assembly. Wales therefore has its own Cross Party Autism Group (CPAG) made up of Assembly Members (AMs). The group was set up in May 2003 to be a forum to raise awareness and promote the interests of people with autistic spectrum disorders, their families and carers in the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government. Their meetings are always well attended by people on the autism spectrum, parents and carers, professionals from the fields of local government, education and medicine, and Assembly Members.
  • In the Northern Ireland Assembly:
    In Northern Ireland healthcare services are devolved from the UK Parliament and are under the governance of the Northern Ireland Legislative. Northern Ireland therefore also has its own All Party Autism Group (APAGA) made up of Legislative Assembly Members (MLAs). All Party Groups provide a forum by which MLAs and outside organisations and individuals can meet to discuss shared interests in a particular cause or subject. The Autism Group was set up in 2008 to be a forum to raise awareness and promote the interests of people with autistic spectrum disorders, their families and carers in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Northern Ireland Government.
  • In the Scottish Parliament:
    In Scotland, where healthcare services are similarly devolved, unfortunately there is not a Cross Party Group on autism. There are CPGs on Alzheimer’s, Asthma, Cancer, Chronic Pain, Coeliac Disease and DH, Deafness, Diabetes, Disability, Dyslexia, Epilepsy, Heart Disease and Stroke, Mental Health, Muscular Dystrophy, Obesity, Palliative Care, Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis, but not on Autism.

Political Notables:

John Bercow, The Speaker of the House of Commons, is the father of an autistic child:

The Speaker is the chief officer and highest authority of the House of Commons and must remain politically impartial at all times. The Speaker also represents the Commons to the monarch, the Lords and other authorities and chairs the House of Commons Commission.

The Speaker is perhaps best known as the person who keeps order and calls MPs to speak during Commons debates.

This is what he spoke about his child, who had been diagnosed with autism, in a debate on 1st February 2008 while still an MP (he was named Speaker in June 2009):

I begin by declaring an interest as the father of a four-year-old boy, Oliver, who has been diagnosed as exhibiting the characteristics of high-functioning autism. In addition, I thank the National Autistic Society, TreeHouse, Research Autism and Buckinghamshire county council for their invaluable briefings for this debate.

Autism is a complex, lifelong neurological condition that affects a person’s ability to communicate with and relate to other people. It is estimated that approximately one in every 100 school-aged children is on the autism spectrum. The vast majority, approximately 70 per cent., are in mainstream schools. They are, I am sorry to say, three times more likely to experience mental health problems than their non-autistic peers. Equally, it is estimated that only about 12 per cent. of them end up in employment. The cost annually of that sector of the child population is thought to be about £2.8 billion.

I emphasise that we are talking about a spectrum condition, which implies that there are many variants on the theme. The nature and intensity of the difficulty and the resulting need can and do vary substantially, but to encapsulate the concept I would say that all autistic people have one characteristic in common. They all suffer from the triad of impairments: that is to say, they suffer from problems of social communication, social imagination and social interaction.