The autism (quality standards) bill has been introduced by the Conservative MP Robert Buckland, who has a son with autism.

Buckland’s proposed legislation – introduced under the Commons “ten-minute rule bill” procedures – would force the government to ask the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to publish “quality standards” for social care and health services for people with autism.

Among the 10 areas the standards would cover are staff training, and information about autism and the support available for those who have been newly diagnosed, and their carers.

Those who have been newly diagnosed would also be given a profile laying out their strengths, skills, impairments and needs as the basis for a plan that includes learning, communication and emotional health.

And there would be an autism strategy group in every area to help plan services, with membership to include people with autism.

The National Autistic Society has worked closely on the bill with MPs and peers on the all-party parliamentary group on autism, including Buckland.

Buckland said his bill highlighted the “vital importance” of bringing together health and social care, which was “not before time”.

He said such quality standards would show those who commission services the “gold standard of provision”, while service-users would be “made aware of the standards that they should expect from service providers”.

He added: “Maybe, just maybe, the lives of thousands of people with autism can be made better.”

The 2009 Autism Act aimed to improve services for people with autism and was England’s first impairment-specific act.

The act was followed by Labour’s adult autism strategy for England, which was heavily criticised by the autistic rights movement for its failure to demand real change from councils and health trusts.

Guidance subsequently published late last year by the new coalition government was also criticised as weak and “seriously flawed”.

Campaigners say the quality standards would provide stronger protection for people with autism than the three sets of guidelines on autism that NICE is already developing.

Russell Stronach, co-chair of the Autistic Rights Movement United Kingdom (ARM UK), welcomed the new bill, and said it should lead to an improvement in services if it became law.

He said the bill “looks absolutely in the right general direction”, although there would be areas they would hope to improve over the coming months.

The Department of Health said it would not comment on the bill until it was debated by MPs at its second reading in November.

A spokeswoman added: “It will be when it is debated that the government sets out its thoughts on it.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Specialisterne Scotland, which was launched by Scottish government minister John Swinney this week, is modelled on a Danish company which was set up to offer mainstream jobs at market rates of pay to people with autism.

About three-quarters of the 60 staff at Specialisterne in Denmark have autism and they work in areas such as programming and software testing.

The company uses the skills and characteristics shared by some people with autism, such as precision and consistency, to provide IT services to businesses around the world.

Now Specialisterne Scotland, which is based in Glasgow, is set to use this successful blueprint to provide jobs for people with autism in Scotland.

Over the next six months, Specialisterne Scotland will recruit and train 12 people with autism, with commercial testing due to begin early next year. It aims to create a workplace with “a high degree of planning, predictability, systemisation and minimal stress”.

By 2015, it expects to be employing 61 people, 50 of whom will have autism.

The new business has been developed by the social enterprise support agency Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEiS), with support from the National Autistic Society Scotland (NASS) and the Autism Resource Centre.

Gerry Higgins, chief executive of CEiS, said: “We know from the experience in Denmark that Specialisterne Scotland has the potential to change lives for the better by providing mainstream employment at the market rate for people with autism, while transforming recruitment attitudes and business practices.

“In the longer term, we anticipate that the majority of the workforce will be working at customer premises, assisting the competitiveness of Scottish businesses.”

SS has secured £700,000 in grant and loan funding from the Scottish government’s Scottish Investment Fund, a Big Lottery award of more than £400,000 as well as £30,000 from Glasgow City Council.

NASS said its research had found only 13 per cent of adults with autism in Scotland had jobs.

Carol Evans, national director for NASS, said Specialisterne Scotland was “a real breakthrough in employers recognising the strengths of people with autism as key staff in their workforce”.

Kieran Pentland, who has Asperger’s syndrome and works for NASS as an employment consultant, said: “Being in an occupation that I love and enjoy doing has given me a sense of purpose, financial independence, boosted my confidence, lifted my depression, and restored my pride and dignity.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com