Keeping busy at the Conservative Party Conference

Last week, the NAS rounded off the conference season at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.

On Sunday night, we hosted an exciting education fringe event alongside Ambitious About Autism.  The event was chaired by Cllr Colin Barrow CBE who talked about his experience of finding educational support for his own child, who has autism. Colin has just stood down as chair of trustees for the NAS and we are very pleased that he is continuing to be involved in the charity's work

Parent Debbie Waters also spoke at the event and highlighted her difficulties in finding the right support for her children. She said in choosing a school she had felt forced to choose between a happy child and an educated child, which she said, was "not a real choice to make".

Also at the event Karen Lumley MP stressed the importance of making funding fairer for children with special educational needs (SEN), while Leader of Solihull council Cllr Ken Meeson agreed that funding was a key issue. He also highlighted the need for earlier intervention for children with SEN. We also heard from other parents, people with autism, councillors, and Neil Parish MP.

Tuesday night was our Researchers’ Refuge event, which gave MPs’ researchers and caseworkers a chance to drop in for beer and snacks and have an informal chat about autism. We had fantastic discussions with them about how they can better support constituents who have autism and their families.

During the week we also went along to the Learning Disability Coalition’s table tennis event. Politicians including David Burrowes MP played table tennis with people with learning disabilities. It was a really useful event to get politicians talking to people with learning disabilities and autism.

All in all, the week was a great opportunity to influence the current Government into making the best choices for people with autism.

Important conversations at the Labour party conference

Members of our policy and campaigns team had a busy and productive week at the Labour party conference.

It was standing room only at our cocktails and conversations event on Tuesday, which we organised joinlty with Ambitious About Autism . The event was hosted by Sally Bercow, Parent Patron of Ambitious About Autism. Ralph, one of the NAS' Young Campaigners, gave a brilliant speech about his experiences with the education system and the difficulties he and his brother had faced in getting proper support. We also heard from our key speaker Sharon Hodgson MP, the Shadow Minister for Education.

There was plenty of lively discussion at the event, thanks to our table hosts who included MPs Rob Flello, Jonathan Reynolds and Angela Smith, working alongside leading councillors, Labour party delegates, parents and people with autism. Major discussion topics included the need for more choice in school placements, and the need for more extensive provision post-16.

Throughout the week we met with lots of MPs who were interested in engaging more with our campaigns; many asked to visit our schools and pledged to find out more about local provision available in their constituencies.

Many MPs told us they were proud of the work they’d done in Government, but that plenty of work still needed to be done. The conference was a great way for us to get some commitments from MPs, and advise them on how to work in their constituencies and Parliament to improve the lives of people affected by autism across the UK.

NAS at the Lib Dem party conference

The NAS policy and campaigns team have had an exciting week at the Liberal Democrat party conference, discussing education issues with key party members.

On Sunday night, we hosted an education event with Ambitious About Autism, bringing together politicians and parents of children with autism. The Minister for Children and Families Sarah Teather MP and Liberal Democrat Party President Tim Farron MP both spoke to a packed room and engaged in a lively and interesting debate on SEN issues.

We engaged with an impressive 17 Lib Dem MPs and Lords, making new parliamentary friends and updating long-term champions who regularly raise issues affecting people with autism.

We talked with Simon Wright MP about the rights of pupils without SEN statements, and discussed school transport with Tom Brake MP. Jenny Willot MP is now planning to visit one of our NAS schools, whilst Dan Rogerson MP has agreed to ask questions in Parliament about access to speech and language therapists.

Lots of the politicians we spoke to had first hand experience of autism – whether through their own families, friends or constituents.  This was a great opportunity for us to advise them on how best they can improve the lives of everyone affected and make sure autism stays on the Government’s agenda. 

We got lots of commitments from MPs and we’ll make sure they stick to them!

Great Expectations launches in Parliament

Yesterday saw the successful launch of our new campaign Great Expectations in Parliament.

NAS President Jane Asher (pictured) reflected on the struggles parents had to get the help their children needed at school. She stressed how important it was to get help in early and how much money this could save in the long run.

Disabilities Minister Maria Miller responded to the campaign on behalf of the Government. She said that the special educational needs (SEN) "system was broken" and that the Government were determined to fix it through proposals set out in the SEN Green Paper.

She also said that getting support in place for children with autism was in her experience a particular battle. Some schools were able to be fully inclusive of children on the spectrum, so others should be able to do it too. At the moment, being able to access the right support seemed to be based on luck, she added.

Shadow Education Secretary Andy Burnham stressed the importance of cross party working on SEN reforms to make sure that Government got the reforms right. He noted the success of cross party working on the Autism Act.

Two parents of children with autism also spoke at the event about their experiences of having to fight the system. Sadly, the research we carried out for the campaign showed that their experiences were all too common.  The research, based on survey responses from over 1,000 children with autism and parents and focus groups accross the country, showed:
 
- 48% of parents say they have waited over a year to get the right support for their child, and 27% have waited more than two years.
- 18% of parents have had to take legal action to get the right support for their children, and have been to tribunal an average of 3.5 times each
- Just half of parents (52%) feel their child is making good educational progress.
- 43% of young people feel teachers don’t know enough about autism.
The campaign calls for a system in which parents are treated as equal partners and genuinely involved in decisions about their child’s education and the planning of local services, and for all children with autism to be able to get the support they need quickly and easily, from teachers who understand how to support them.

The event was hosted by the vice chair of the all party parliamentary group on autism Steve Brine MP. It was well attended - the room was full of MPs, peers, parents of children with autism, children with autism and professionals. 

The NAS is calling on all MPs and peers to support the campaign and help ensure that we use the Government's proposed reforms of the SEN system as an opportunity to get things right for children with autism. Please support the campaign, by emailing your MP.

SEN minister addresses APPGA

On Monday, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism (APPGA) met at Parliament to discuss the Government's Review of special educational needs (SEN) and how the system can be improved.

The meeting was really well attended by professionals from the sector and MPs, including Graham Stuart MP, chair of the education select committee, Russell Brown MP, Robert Buckland MP and Lord Clement-Jones.

In a speech to the group, Minister for Children and Families, Sarah Teather made assurances that although cuts to government spending will make it more difficult to improve the system, they will not stop reform from happening. She said that it’s “not right” that parents have to battle system to get the right support for their child and that she intends the new system to be much more ‘family friendly’. She also wants there to be a focus on diagnosis and early intervention, giving families more choice in their child's education, and transition to adulthood.

She also thanked Ralph Hemus, one of young campaigners for his excellent speech about his and his family’s experience of the system. Ralph spoke to attendees about how difficult it can be to be a child with autism at a school where there is not enough understanding and how he thinks that teachers and pupils should be educated about autism.  



Minister Sarah Teather (right) and Charlotte Leslie MP (left)
listen to Ralph talk about his experiences of the SEN system



After the speeches, members of Parliament and members of the public had the opportunity to put their questions to the minister, allowing her to explain some more about her ideas for improving the system.

Although the Call for Views is now closed, there will be further opportunities to give your views on the system when the Green Paper is published later this year. We will keep you updated.

NAS heads to Labour and Conservative party conferences

Following the success of our fringe event at the Liberal Democrat conference, the NAS has also been to the Labour and Conservative party conferences to highlight the issues people with autism and their families face to politicians from across the political spectrum.

At the 'Cocktails and Conversation' event at the Labour party conference we focused again on child mental health services and the issues raised in the You Need to Know campaign during a lively and well-attended event. Jacob Denness, a member of the NAS Young Campaigners group, spoke about his experiences of the child mental health system and school to kick the discussions off.

Diana Johnson MP, the shadow minister for health, summed up at the end and talked about the importance of the Coalition's proposals on reforming the health system, and how they will affect services, encouraging people to make sure the Government heard from people.

At the Conservative conference, we focused on the special educational needs system, in advance of the publication of the Government's new SEN Green Paper. NAS Chair Colin Barrow hosted the event, and Ralph Hemus, another Young Campaigner, talked about his views and experiences of education. He told the delegates:

"My brother is famous for having been excluded from playgroup, nursery school, primary school, secondary school and college! When he couldn’t cope his behaviour was really bad and for that he was misunderstood and labelled 'difficult'. When I couldn’t cope, I became withdrawn and for that I was 'overlooked'.

Mainstream support in schools has to be really good. Teachers must be trained and awareness raised or many of us will leave school more isolated, with mental health issues and without friends and not be able to cope and get jobs.

I think that some schools and Local Authorities stereotype pupils with autism and little flexibility is given to individual learning methods and coping strategies.

It is really important that kids with special educational needs are helped with a good education and teachers trained in the best methods of teaching us, but the emotional needs of autistic young people I think is even more important and schools must be taught about this."

Graham Stuart MP, the new chair of the parliamentary education select committee said the key point he had understood from the discussions was the importance of effective training. Charlotte Leslie MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism (APPGA), talked about how important it is to get the system right for young people moving into adulthood.

All the events had excellent attendance and lively discussions, and provided an opportunity for senior party members, MPs and councillors, to hear first hand about the issues that children with autism and their families face.

We also took the opportunity to meet with lots of new and existing MPs to make sure they understand about autism and can help us with the key issues we're trying to get change on.

NAS at Lib Dem Conference

The Policy and Campaigns Team have been busy this week at the Liberal Democrat Conference talking to MPs about issues affecting children and adults with autism, including education.

We spoke about our concerns about a lack of awareness and understanding of autism among school staff and about the challenges facing parents with autism, as they battle to get the support  their children need at school.

NAS Fringe event
The NAS also held its third annual 'Cocktails and Conversation' fringe event, this year focusing on mental health services for children with autism, following the launch of our You Need to Know Campaign.  

One of our young campaigners Hayley Nickels spoke at the event about her experiences of mental health services. Among other things she highlighted some of the problems she had had at school that had led to her developing mental health problems.

In the discussion that followed, the importance of better integrated working between health, education and social care was stressed.

Government spokesperson Baroness Northover said that it was worrying that so few parents and families felt that mental health services were helping them and that resources were being wasted as a result.

Liberal Democrat MP Annette Brooke stressed that it was really important that schools worked to prevent mental health problems from developing. 

To find out more about the You Need to Know campaign see: http://www.autism.org.uk/Youneedtoknow 

We will also be at Labour and Conservative Party Conferences and will keep you up to date on what we are doing on this site.