6. 5. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Autism

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:46 pm on 12 October 2016.

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Photo of Darren Millar Darren Millar Conservative 5:46, 12 October 2016

Thank you to those people who have already spoken in this debate, especially Mark Isherwood, of course, who has been crusading on this issue for many, many years, and has undertaken a sterling role as chair of the cross-party group on autism.

I have to say, I’m a little taken aback at the Labour Party’s position on this. The tenor of this debate was that it was brought in good faith, expecting the support of all parties. There’s been a lot of consensus on autism-related issues in the past and, indeed, this party supported the development of the existing strategy, which was brought to this Assembly in 2008. But, it’s abundantly clear that that strategy isn’t delivering what we all expected it to and that people, unfortunately, are being let down. I do not want, as the Labour Party appear to want to do, to continue to delay and procrastinate and say, ‘Let’s wait and see what happens with this, let’s wait and see what happens with that,’ when it is abundantly clear that the existing systems in Wales are not fit for purpose and are not working—