House of Lords Committee on the Autism Act 2009

To all who contributed to the work of the House of Lords Committee on the Autism Act 2009

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Following the publication on 23 November of the Committee’s final report, ‘Time to deliver: The Autism Act 2009 and the new autism strategy’, I am writing to thank you for your contribution.

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In all:

• The Committee held 24 oral evidence sessions with 67 different witnesses from across the country, reflecting both on their personal experiences and their professional expertise.

• The Committee received nearly 400 submissions in response to its call for evidence (364 published and 22 submitted in confidence). Several hundred of these submissions were directly from autistic people and those who support them.

• Numerous submissions to the Committee assimilated and synthesised evidence from thousands more autistic people and those who support them.

• The Committee held five engagement meetings with dozens of autistic people and those who support them, sharing their personal experiences of public understanding and acceptance, health and social care, education and employment.

• The Committee went on two visits (to an employment project based at a hospital and a special school) to learn about the experiences of autistic people in education and employment.

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We want to thank everyone who shared their views and experiences with us. We were constantly struck by your moving, powerful and informative testimony, and we have sought to reflect this in the Committee’s final report. We received what we believe to be a record number of evidence submissions to a House of Lords Committee. While it wasn’t possible for us to cite directly every submission or point made, we considered all the evidence we received carefully, and our recommendations reflect the evidence we received.

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The Government must publish a written response to the Committee’s report. This is meant to happen within two months. After this, I will lead a debate on the Committee’s report in the House of Lords. We will let people know when the debate will take place through the Committee’s social media channels.

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Now that our final report has been published, the Committee’s work has concluded. This means that the Committee will not have any further meetings. Unfortunately, the Committee is not able to do any follow-up work or respond to individual problems, complaints or requests for assistance. However, you can rest assured that I, and the other members of the Committee, will do all we can to hold the Government to account for developing, delivering and implementing the new autism strategy in the coming months.

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Thank you once again for your invaluable contribution to the work of the Committee.

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Yours sincerely

Baroness Kate Rock

Chair, House of Lords Committee on the Autism Act 200

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The Committee published its final report, ‘Time to deliver: The Autism Act 2009 and the new autism strategy’ on Sunday 23 November. Below are web-links to the report and related documents. Please pass these links on to anyone who would be interested:

• Report: Time to deliver: The Autism Act 2009 and the new autism strategy (html)
• Report: Time to deliver: The Autism Act 2009 and the new autism strategy (pdf)
• Summary and list of conclusions and recommendations
• Shorthand story: Time to deliver: The Autism Act 2009 and the new autism strategy
• Easy Read version
• Chair's video (external link to YouTube)
• News story
• Social media:  LinkedIn, X and Bluesky

Key recommendations

The report examines how well the Autism Act has been working, how it could work better in the future, and what the current autism strategy has achieved. The Government has committed to use this report to help it develop the new autism strategy.

The Committee recommends that the Government must develop the new autism strategy now, so it is ready to launch when the current one expires in July 2026. The Government must identify priority outcomes, produce a costed, deliverable plan to achieve them, and make clear who is responsible and accountable for delivery.

Too often, decisions about autistic people’s lives are made for them, not by them. This must change. Autistic people and those who support them must be meaningfully involved in every stage of the development and delivery of the new strategy.

The Committee recommends that, as part of the new strategy, the Government must:

• run a new initiative to improve understanding and acceptance of autism and expand mandatory training on autism for public-facing staff, produced with autistic people and those who support them;
• invest in driving down autism assessment waiting times, while also developing and scaling up effective models for identification, assessment and lifelong, stepped support;
• give services backing and incentives to provide low-level, integrated support to autistic people, to prevent care needs from developing and escalating into crisis;
• set a clear timeline and roadmap for strong community services to be put in place, so that provisions in the Mental Health Bill to end the unnecessary detention of autistic people and people with a learning disability can be commenced;
• enable local authorities and NHS bodies to provide services for young autistic people during the crucial transition to adulthood, bringing together support with education, employment, housing and mental health;
• build up capability for educating autistic children and young people across all types of educational provision, supporting high-performing specialist schools to act as centres of excellence;
• provide employers with better support and incentives to enable more autistic people to find, stay and thrive in work; and,
• develop, test and roll out effective ways to identify and support autistic people involved in the criminal justice system as victims, witnesses or offenders.

Evidence from autistic people and those who support them

We heard from dozens of autistic people and people who support them, and took written evidence from hundreds more. The views of thousands of others were shared with us by individuals and representative groups. Overall, the Committee received what we believe to be a record number of written submissions for a House of Lords committee. We were constantly struck by the moving and powerful testimony of the people who shared their experiences with us.

Next steps

As with all House of Lords Special Inquiry Committees, the Committee has now formally completed its work and ceased to exist following publication of its final report. This means that the Committee will not have any further meetings, and is not able to do any follow-up work or respond to individual problems, complaints or requests for assistance.

The Government is required to publish a written response to the Committee’s report. This is meant to happen within two months. The response will be published on the Committee’s parliamentary website. After this, the report will be debated in the House of Lords. We will let people know when the Government response is published and when the debate will take place through the Committee’s social media channels.

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