Pauline Tully
Question:485. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the estimated final cost of publishing the Autism Innovation Strategy. [51938/23]
View answerTuesday, 28 November 2023
Questions (485)
Written answers
The Programme for Government contains a commitment to action on autism. The development of a new national strategy, the Autism Innovation Strategy, is currently underway. This is an important priority for me as Minister of State.
Costs related to the Strategy have to date been modest and have largely fallen within the realm of consultation and engagement costs and costs related to sourcing the expertise necessary to develop the Strategy. Publication costs will be addressed as the Strategy takes final shape, following a final round of consultation on a draft text. For reasons of commercial sensitivity I do not propose to outline detailed budgets here, however I can assure the Deputy that I have successfully secured the necessary funding to launch and commence delivery of the strategy under Budget 2024.
The Autism Innovation Strategy will identify ways to address the bespoke challenges and barriers faced by autistic people and provide the building blocks for a more autism-inclusive society. It will seek to provide for better mainstream understanding and accommodation of the needs of autistic people. The strategy will be cross-Government in nature and will take a holistic approach towards addressing these challenges in a way that complements and aligns with wider action on disability.
Development of the strategy is currently at an advanced stage. This follows several months of engagements right across Government to agree a suite of clear, simple actions that can address gaps in existing supports and services for autistic people within an 18 month timeframe.
Once drafting of the strategy is complete, there will be a further public consultation prior to the formal adoption of the Autism Innovation Strategy. It is my intention that implementation of the strategy will begin in early 2024 and that is the clear focus of work for my officials at present.