Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on when the Integrated Autism Service will start to provide services for people in North Wales? W
The North Wales Integrated Autism Service is currently under development. Recruitment will commence over the next few months and a number of staff will be in post by January to enable some of the functions of the service to start after that date. The intention is to provide a service through the medium of Welsh across North Wales and recruitment will include the need for this.
I was pleased that earlier this year I was able to announce additional funding of £7 million for the National Integrated Autism Service bringing the total funding allocated to support autism services in Wales to £13 million up to 2021. This additional funding means that this innovative service will be rolled out across Wales by the end of 2018, a year earlier than originally planned. It demonstrates our continued commitment to improving autism services and I am confident that the four year funding will enable regions to deliver consistent, high quality and sustainable autism support to families.