Signs of progress in parliament?

This week has seen some encouraging responses from the Minister for Care Services, Norman Lamb, in parliament this week.

MPs, inspired by the local action of Push for Action campaigners or by the people with autism and families they heard from in parliament at our reception, have been tabling written questions to probe on some of our key campaign recommendations.

In response to a question from Joan Walley, MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, about how the Government are "ensuring clinical commissioning groups are aware of their obligations under the statutory guidance that accompanies the adult autism strategy", Mr Lamb confirmed the forthcoming publication of new guidance for Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) which we have long been calling for:

"The Joint Commissioning Panel, supported by the Department, is due to publish shortly a practical guide for CCG, to support health professionals implementing relevant aspects of the Adult Autism Strategy guidance, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on Diagnostic Services."

Steve Brine, MP for Winchester, asked if the Minister will "will introduce outcomes for adults with autism into the health and social care outcomes frameworks" reflecting one of our Push for Action priorities that autism is 'mainstreamed' into broader health and social care reforms. 

Because the outcomes frameworks referred to here are dependent on good data being collected on autism, the best we will be able to get out of the Government at this stage is a commitment that it will be brought in once the new data collection policy comes into play, so Mr Lamb's response that:

"We are considering how we can include a new measure on autism in the 2015-16 Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework"

is much more useful than it might appear at first glance.

Potentially most encouraging of all, was an answer to Heywood and Middleton MP, Jim Dobbin. Mr Dobbin asked the Minister "what financial support his Department makes available to local authorities to develop and share learning from innovative autism services". In response, for the first time ever on record, Norman Lamb made reference to the funding ask in our Push for Action report and said it was something they were considering:

"The National Autistic Society have proposed that there should be an innovation fund and we will consider this during the current review of the 2010 Adult Autism Strategy, which will be completed by the end of March 2014."

Asking for money in this financial climate was always going to be a tall order, and we are still a long way from achieving it, but this answer provides some real hope that it might be an outcome we can achieve if we keep on pushing together.

You can read the full transcript of these questions and answers, here:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm131106/text/131106w0003.htm#13110691000689