Clause 2
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
11:30 am
Angela Browning (Deputy Chairman (Organising and Campaigning), Conservative Party; Tiverton and Honiton, Conservative)
Indeed. I began by talking about children because it is perhaps the one area in which in the past 10 to 15 years we have started to make some progress. I am not complacent, but we have started to give recognition in our education system and through social services departments. First, early diagnosisis important; the Minister will know how early intervention is key after picking up the symptoms and signs of autism. Early intervention and management of the condition are extremely important. Managementof the condition very often depends on appropriate resources being available, but certainly in the education scenario we are in a very different position from that in 1983, when the previous Mental Health Bill was drafted. I am old enough to remember that personally—