Can I thank Paul for bringing this forward? As chair of the cross-party autism group over many years, I know that this has been a primary call from the autism community at large. With huge numbers of people on the spectrum, their families, their carers and the professionals who work with them on the front line are calling for this in huge numbers.

I recognise that autism is neither a learning difficulty nor a mental health issue, and therefore falls between the two stools. Currently, there's blurring around the edges in consequence of poor services too-often experienced. I also know, from my own casework and my work as chair of the cross-party autism group, and I suspect many millions of pounds are being wasted getting this wrong, with pressure on secondary and statutory services, which should not be there, when most of this could be dealt with through effective co-working, co-production, early intervention and prevention.

We received a Welsh Local Government Association briefing ahead of this statement, which refers to the refreshed strategic action plan, believed to be the only strategy for autism spectrum disorder in the world, but that's something we also heard, for many years previously, after the initial autism strategy was launched. In fact, every time it was mentioned, that was the claim for credit, that it was the first, but we also know that the community told us it didn't benefit.

When I led the debate, which this Assembly voted for, in January 2015, calling for an autism Act, when the meeting voted for it, I referred to the meeting of the cross-party group the previous November in which the people attending, representing communities from across the whole of Wales, as well as a large group of Assembly Members, voted unanimously in favour of calling for an autism Act. Do you therefore agree with me that the evidence we then heard confirms the need for underpinning legislation, where we heard from, for instance, Gwynedd and Anglesey, who told us that diagnosis was improving, but post-diagnostic support wasn't available, and that an autism Act was needed to safeguard and strengthen services and ensure consistency of support? We heard from Bridgend about the hope that followed the autism strategy, but how it hadn't achieved what it could have, and there was concern amongst local stakeholder groups in Bridgend about exactly where autism fitted in.

When I led the debate here, which unfortunately the Government whipped their back benches to defeat, in October 2016, I also referred to evidence, for example, from Ystradgynlais, that people felt let down and angry that they'd had to fight so hard to get the support they need, and it was important that people with autism were no longer invisible to services; and, for example, from Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, that the strategy promised to deliver so much that people are being pushed into further crisis. So, again, do you confirm your shared view with me that boasting about being the first is not the measure of success? The measure of success is how this impacts on the lives of the people it's supposed to support.

Do you agree that the need for this Bill and following Act is further emphasised by the judicial review proceedings relating to the failure to assess and then meet the needs of a young autistic adult in May of this year, which resulted in Flintshire County Council agreeing to provide a formal apology and make a damages award because of a failure to meet the requirements of Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act regulations and codes, and that it reinforces the need for specific autism legislation?

Do you agree with me that a chart I've received from a group of parents of autistic children only yesterday, where high numbers of them identify school failure to identify a child's difficulties; health failure to identify a child's difficulties; agencies' culture of dismissing families, blaming, or threatening; no or inadequate liaison and joint working between statutory agencies; a family not informed of disabled children's right to advocacy by the local education authority—? There are pages more of this, with numerous parents who found that they've shared identical experiences. They're parents primarily in Flintshire, but also in Denbighshire. I received that only yesterday. Do you agree that this e-mail I received from a parent in north Wales yesterday further confirms the need for an Act?

'I'm in the process of finishing up corrections of the assessment and care plan, drafted by social services for my child. My aim is to show that they've either grossly misheard or failed to make accurate notes of what I've told them, or out and out omitted information and details that I have notified them about.' 

I receive e-mails like that every single day.