North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has urged the First Minister to give the autism community in Wales the Autism Act it has long been calling for.
Mr Isherwood, who is Chair of the Cross Party Autism Group, made the plea in the Assembly Chamber this week in response to Carwyn Jones’ Statement on ‘Priorities for Government’.
Mr Isherwood said: “You have, on many occasions, responded to questions during the fifth Assembly on proposals for an Autism Act, which we’ve been calling for, and which I had a debate on in January 2015.
“Initially, responses seemed to suggest it might be incorporated within an Additional Learning Needs Bill. Subsequently, you’ve responded more generally that the Welsh Government is considering this further. Will you recognise that the autism community in Wales and the organisations working with it and supporting it are calling for a statutory underpinning to impose duties on service providers, particularly health and social care and education, so that the problems evidenced by the sector and, particularly, people on the spectrum and their carers and families are addressed and given a statutory identity?”
The First Minister replied: “With autism, it’s right to say that it didn’t work as part of the ALN Bill. We are looking at what legislation might be necessary in the future in order to strengthen the rights of service users, and that process is still ongoing.”
Mr Isherwood added: “An Autism Act for Wales is long overdue. We can’t ask children or adults to stop being autistic until services are in place for them. The Welsh Government needs to get its act together and deliver what the autism community want and need.”