Purpose

To approve the
draft all-age, integrated Autism Strategy and approval for
consultation.

Decision

RESOLVED that
 

i.      
the draft All-Age Integrated Autism Strategy 2025-2030 be approved
as the basis of public consultation over a period of 12 weeks.
 

ii.    
the public consultation approach including questionnaire and
communication plan is agreed in consultation with Cllr Bailey and
Cllr Wright.
 

iii.   
the Cabinet receives a revised draft of the strategy following
consideration of consultation feedback.

Reasons for the decision

i.      
The All-Age Integrated Autism Strategy will support the Council in
meeting their statutory responsibilities to autistic children,
young people and adults as determined under the Autism Act 2009,
Care Act 2014 and Children and Families Act 2014.
 

ii.    
The strategy will support the pillars of the Frimley Integrated
Care Board (ICB) Neurodivergence partnership plan, including:
Neurodiverse people are less disadvantaged in terms of home,
education training and employment setting, health and wellbeing,
compared to their peers
 

iii.   
The strategy will support the council in achieving key priorities
as determined in the Council Plan.
 

iv.   
The strategy will further support several Bracknell Forest joint
priority areas as outlined in the Health and Care Plan
2025-2026.
 

v.    
Public consultation of the co-produced strategy will ensure
residents of Bracknell Forest have an opportunity to understand the
proposed partnership approach to supporting autistic children,
young people, adults, parent / carers and the associated
priorities. Residents will be able to provide feedback which will
be taken into consideration when drafting the final strategy for
publication.
 

vi.   
A robust integrated communication plan for public consultation
across the partnership will ensure all residents have the
opportunity to review the draft strategy and complete the
survey.

Alternative options considered

The Autism Act 2009 introduced a requirement
for local authorities to have an adult
autism strategy. This has since been broadened
to include children. The National
Strategy for Autistic Children, Young People
and Adults 2021-2026 recognises and
focuses on autism in children and young people
as well as adults. For this reason, no
other alternatives were considered other than
the development of this strategy.