Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for autism diagnosis.

Alistair Burt

NHS England and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, supported by the Department, undertook a series of visits to clinical commissioning groups and local authorities recently. These visits aimed to develop a better strategic oversight of the challenges in securing timely diagnosis across all ages and to share good practice. NHS England will report to the Cross Government Autism Programme Board in June on its findings and that report and discussion will be made public.

As recommended by the independent Mental Health Taskforce, the Department is undertaking a five year plan for the development of mental health data to be published by the end of this year. The plan will set out future data requirements and timings for developing data to inform pathways of care which will include data requirements for autism.