3. What support has the Welsh Government provided to autistic people during the coronavirus pandemic? OQ55500

Llywydd, the coronavirus crisis has been especially challenging for autistic people. Working with others, the Welsh Government has focused on practical help and specific guidance for those affected. Last month, for example, and jointly with the National Autistic Society, we published advice on face coverings for autistic people on public transport. 

The 'Left stranded' report published last week by the National Autistic Society and its partners shows that as well as significantly exacerbating long-established challenges autistic people face getting suitable social care and educational support, the coronavirus pandemic has had a severely detrimental impact on the mental health of autistic people and their families. How, therefore, will you respond to the report's call for the Welsh Government to: create an action plan to protect autistic people and their families in case of a second wave; prioritise the development of the code of practice on the delivery of autism services; strengthen the legal rights of autistic people and their families in Wales accordingly; publish the additional learning needs code ahead of moving to the new support system next year; and implement the commitment that all teachers receive mandatory autism training as part of their initial teacher education, alongside rolling out a public awareness campaign on autism, as is happening elsewhere in the UK? 

Llywydd, can I thank Mark Isherwood for drawing attention to the 'Left stranded' report, an important report? I know that the Member wrote yesterday to both the health and education Ministers drawing their attention to it.

As Mark Isherwood has said, there are three specific recommendations in the report for the Welsh Government. The first is to develop a code of practice on the delivery of autism services, and the Minister for Health and Social Services will issue a written statement shortly, before the end of this month, setting out the timetables for consultation and publication of the code.

The second recommendation was for the publication of the additional learning needs code and the implementation of it in 2021, and on 3 September the Minister for Education announced that the code and the regulations will be laid before the Senedd in February of next year, and that that will, indeed, allow the commencement of the Act and the phased roll out of it from September 2021.

The third recommendation concerns the national awareness campaign to which the Member drew attention, and our national autistic team and others—including those working in the field of initial teacher training—are working together to raise public awareness of autism in the community as a key theme of our implementation plans.  

First Minister, you mentioned in your response to Mark Isherwood the code of practice around face coverings for autistic people, and you'll be very aware, I know, that as well as autistic people finding it sometimes difficult to wear a face mask, they can also find it difficult to communicate with somebody who is wearing a face mask, and the same would be true, for example, of deaf people who may need to lip read. Can you confirm this afternoon, First Minister—and I'm asking you this question in the context of a constituent who had an issue with this—that if a member of the public, an autistic person or a person with deafness issues, requests a member of staff in a shop to remove their face covering so that that deaf person or autistic person can more effectively communicate with them, that it is acceptable for the member of staff to do that, providing it is possible to maintain the 2m social distancing? My constituent's experience suggests that there may be some confusion on the part of shop staff in this regard.

Llywydd, I thank Helen Mary Jones for that. I confirm that in the circumstances she has described it would be acceptable, but we do know that there is quite a lot of learning that the system has to absorb. It was one of the hesitations that the chief medical officer has always expressed about compulsory use of face coverings, that there have to be exceptions and we have to be sensitive to those people who for different reasons do not find the wearing of a face covering themselves possible or who find it difficult when others wear them. We will use all the exceptions that we put into place when face coverings were made compulsory on public transport in the new areas that we have made them compulsory as from Monday of this week, and there will, I'm afraid, be a short period in which sensitivity to some of these issues will have to be developed amongst people who haven't had to operate in this way up until now.