Member

I move briefly to Amendments 39 and 41. Under the Bill, it will be possible to detain autistic people and/or people with a learning disability if they have a coexisting mental health condition. Amendment 39 would provide that the behaviour risk that meets the criteria for detention must be wholly due to the psychiatric disorder and not to unmet needs. Failure to provide services to support an inability to obtain employment, make friendships or relationships or cope with everyday challenges can and often is difficult for neurodiverse people. Autism is, as we have already heard, a communication disorder. We know that these services are not always available and that that can lead to behaviours that sometimes are not properly understood. The delay in implementing this Bill once it becomes an Act of Parliament, which was flagged at Second Reading, is clear evidence of the fact that the services that we will talk about in the course of this Bill are just not there in the geographical spread or number that we require.