Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 1:30 pm on 3 July 2019.
In recent weeks and months, I've been contacted by many people in the Rhondda, who are concerned about the support, or lack of support, for their child on the autism spectrum. I've discovered that parents are being told, when they've requested a statutory assessment for a statement of special educational needs, that the local authority no longer does statements. This is wrong, and, until September 2020, when changes come in under the new additional learning needs system, it is, in my view, a failure to discharge their duties as a local authority. Would you agree with that? And I would also like to know what you're doing to ensure that every teacher in Wales receives neurodiversity training. This was a recommendation that your Government accepted from the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee during scrutiny of the autism Bill. Can you please tell us what you've done to realise this pledge?