Baroness Blake of LeedsMinister

What they’ve raised

Baroness Blake of Leeds has engaged extensively on health and social care through 40 debate speeches, with particular focus on neurodevelopmental and age-related conditions including autism, dementia, and learning disabilities, alongside broader themes of health inequalities and early intervention. Her contributions demonstrate sustained engagement with diagnostic waiting times (notably 67 weeks for children's autism assessments), support for families post-diagnosis, and the development of service frameworks to improve access to care and treatment. She has also raised cancer screening policy, unpaid carers' needs, and the intersection of education with health outcomes, frequently drawing on personal and constituent experience to illustrate systemic challenges.

Generated from their own Hansard record, below

Record by topic

1. Learning disability & autism85th of 89836.0
2. Unpaid carers14th of 27736.0
3. Adult social care & reform11th of 36130.0
4. NHS & care workforce/staffing10th of 29522.0
5. Assisted dying38th of 34722.0
6. Mental health181st of 86720.0
7. Cancer73rd of 61318.0
8. Public health & prevention112th of 683

What they’ve said

• “…Of course, these matters are always under review. There is a special emphasis now on children with SEND to make sure they are properly looked after. We are mindful that the curriculum review looked at this in great detail, and the response was that, in the main, they were fair assessments.”

  Key Stage 2 Exam Results · 2026-07-16 · Read on Hansard ↗

• “…many people—whether in our education sector or in businesses and employment—who do not understand the needs of autistic people in particular, although we are talking about learning disabilities across the piece.”

  Autism: Parenting Support Programmes · 2026-07-14 · Read on Hansard ↗

• “The figures that we are working from say that 270,701 people were waiting for an autism assessment in March 2026. We know that the average waiting time for assessments varies across the country: for 0 to 17 year-olds it is about 67 weeks, and for patients aged 18-plus it is about 20 weeks.”

  Autism: Parenting Support Programmes · 2026-07-14 · Read on Hansard ↗

• “…ords, we fully recognise the difficulties that families face in accessing the right support following a child’s autism diagnosis. In local areas, post-diagnostic support may be accessed via health, social care, education, and voluntary and community services, depending on what the individual needs.”

  Autism: Parenting Support Programmes · 2026-07-14 ·