Minister, Hefin David and Julie Morgan, the reasons why we are asking for an autism Act and the reason this was in the manifestos of other parties, and the reason why other parties in this place are of the same mind is that the autism spectrum disorder strategic action plan just didn’t work. The refreshed plan doesn’t look like it’s going to work. Now, I’ll happily accept—I will happily accept—that there have been some improvements, not least, actually, in further education and higher education, and that some public services have developed a better awareness and some families have felt included in informing delivery. Nevertheless, the evaluation of the original plan identified a number of weaknesses, which led to an uneven impact and difficulty in directing developments across Wales.

And that’s led to some uncomfortable truths. Just look at our own casework—everyone will have had this—what the strategic action plan hasn’t fixed and still isn’t fixing. Autistic patients whose referrals for mental ill health, related or not to their autism, are not being progressed once their ASD is known. Is that a lack of awareness, or is it a lack of specialist staff? Children waiting two or more years for formal diagnosis, sometimes over the tricky period transitioning from primary to secondary school—a lack of awareness or a lack of specialist staff? One local authority in my region made such a Horlicks of its local plan that, one year, having done nothing with its ring-fenced money, it gave pretty much the whole lot, last minute, to a charity to try and do something with it—a lack of awareness and a lack of specialist staff. The desperate e-mails that reflect that are still coming in.

There is no guarantee in the refreshed plan that awareness raising and training will be carried out by those best placed to do it, nor does it make it plain who needs that training. It’s been pleasing to hear that mountain rescue teams have sought training, but why haven’t bus drivers? School staff may have had training, but where are the hotel receptionists and the shop assistants asking for this training? As now seems obvious to me when I look back at my previous career, where are the lawyers asking for this training? Because, unfortunately, people with autistic spectrum conditions don’t live in a cotton-wool world of switched-on public services, they live in a real world, which doesn’t always make sense, where needs go unmet, and where other people are unpredictable, misleading and sometimes just wrong.

I worry that, with so many financial and other delivery pressures on local authorities and health services, we will still be talking about the lack of this and the lack of that unless we underpin all those good intentions with rights—enforceable rights for people with autistic spectrum conditions and their carers, if they have them. Any structures, especially workforce planning, still needs to be designed on data evidence, and I’m not sure that strategic plans can really bear down on data gathering and what that’s for. I cringe at the suggestion that councils should report on their now non-ring-fenced autism expenditure, because what are you going to do if it’s not very much and the results are poor, Minister? Arm yourself with some statutory powers to get all the sectors delivering your priorities for people with autism: diagnostic capacity, timely and relevant support delivery, and some deep and broad training—[Interruption.]—just two seconds, yes—for key professionals and customer-facing staff, who we all meet in our daily lives. Please be quick.