§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what(a) evaluations and (b) comparative studies have been made in the last 10 years of interventions and therapies for children with autism. [140749]
§ Mr. HuttonThere is a large volume of research on all aspects of autism. Details of projects can be found on the National Research Register (NRR) which also contains details of projects and trials funded by the Medical Research Council and other research funders. The NRR shows that there are currently 51 ongoing and 82 completed projects on autism.
Recent research on autism was drawn together in the 1998 report "Educational Interventions for Children with Autism: A Literature Review of Recent and Current Research" by Rita Jordan and Glenys Jones of the University of Birmingham which was commissioned by the Department for Education and Employment.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to hold centrally information on the number of children under the age of 10 years, by local authority, who have been diagnosed with autism in each year since 1990. [140743]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Department has undertaken an initial survey of children in need, including disabled children. In analysing the returns to this survey we are giving further consideration to how we can revise the categories of 559W impairment used so that we have a better understanding of the services needed for disabled children, including those with autism.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to assist the study of autism announced by the MRC on 3 April; and if this study will provide information on the number of children under the age of 10 years who have been diagnosed with autism in each year since 1980. [140742]
§ Mr. HuttonWe are keeping in touch with the Medical Research Council (which is funded mainly by Government) on this research study. It is a case controlled study comparing matched samples of autistic and non-autistic children and looks at causal factors rather than incidence. The study will not, however, provide information on the number of children under the age of 10 who have been diagnosed with autism since 1980. We will be taking a close interest in the progress of the study and its outcome.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent reviews his Department has made of the use of the drug secretin for treating sufferers of autism; and if he will make a statement. [140747]
§ Mr. HuttonThe most recent published results of a scientifically controlled trial on secretin of which the Department are aware appeared in theNew England Journal of Medicine, 9 December 1999, volume 341, number 24. This came to the conclusion that secretin achieved no significant improvement in various outcome measures as compared with a placebo.