Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:25 pm on 18 July 2018.
Can I thank the Member for Cardiff Central for her comments? I'm sorry that she's not convinced that legislation is required. I will continue, obviously, to speak to her to convince her that this is the right thing to do over the next few months and I'm sure she will also be part of the scrutiny process. Now, she mentioned earlier that patient care should actually be at the heart of any service improvement, and, of course, this is what this Bill is all about. Patient care is at the heart of this Bill because what I'm trying to do is to make sure that services, going forward, are actually put on a statutory footing, which they are not at the moment, and that will obviously ensure that services then are underpinned going forward.
Now, she raises the point that this Bill could give autism a special status. Well, I could argue that the Welsh Government is giving autism a special legal status by looking to introduce a code, for example. Given that the Government is looking to introduce a code, then surely it doesn't believe there's a risk in giving autism a special legal status and creating inequality and demeaning other conditions either, because the Government is looking to carry out improvements and introducing measures at the same time.
You mentioned support for schools. I agree with you; we need to make sure that staff in schools receive the appropriate training. Again, that is included in my Bill: to make sure that staff who deal with people, children, with autism receive the right training. That is actually included in my Bill as well.