Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:32 pm on 25 May 2022.
Diolch yn fawr, Deputy Presiding Officer. If I can extend my thanks to all Members, both of the committee and Members of the Senedd, for their contributions, and of course to the Minister, not only for her response, but for her commitment to supporting those families and those who suffer with neurodevelopmental conditions.
We've heard, haven't we, from across the Chamber, the reason why we need to provide a clinical pathway—that medical care and those specialists for people with Tourette's syndrome—and why it's so essential to improve people's quality of life, whether it was from Helen Reeves-Graham, the petitioner and my constituent, or Jane Hutt's constituent, Ben. As Hefin David has rightly pointed out in his contributions, this is crucial for the lives of those people and their families. Hefin described the pinball effect and one of his constituents described that too.
So, I think we await, Minister, with interest your announcement, but we are grateful for your support in this. You have, as you said, improved autism services, but there is still a long way to go. And rightly so, we should be listening, not only to the 10,000 people who signed this petition or supported and shared this petition, but those who haven't who also suffer from neurodevelopmental conditions. So, can I offer my thanks again to all Members, to everyone who signed and supported this petition, but mostly to Helen Reeves-Graham—Paul Davies's constituent—and those who've supported her to bring this to the floor of their Parliament and to get the Minister's response? And of course, we do await with great interest the work that you are doing. Diolch.