The All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism (APPGA) is a group of backbench members of the British Parliament and Peers interested in autism spectrum disorders. The Chair Marie Tidball MP and Officers are elected by the Members of the Group at an annual AGM. The former Chair was Cheryl Gillan, who was the MP responsible for taking the Autism Act 2009 through the Houses of Parliament.
The APPGA was founded in 2000 by Dame Stephanie Shirley CH. Its secretariat is provided by the National Autistic Society. [1]
An Advisory group exists for the APPGA, composed of experts and autistic individuals who are experts in their respective fields. It is chaired by Phillip Hanscombe (RNLD, Expert by Experience).[ citation needed ]
Dame Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chesham and Amersham from 1992 until her death in 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Secretary of State for Wales from 2010 to 2012.
Laurence Anthony Robertson is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tewkesbury from 1997 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he chaired the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee for seven years, from 2010 to 2017.
Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of Trinity College.
The National Autistic Society is a charity for autistic people and their families in the United Kingdom. Since 1962, the National Autistic Society has been providing support, guidance and advice, as well as campaigning for improved rights, services and opportunities to help create a society that works for autistic people.
Lee Scott is a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford North from 2005 until his defeat at the 2015 general election. Scott is an officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel. In the 2021 Essex County Council election he was elected to the ward of Chigwell & Loughton Broadway.
Timothy Francis Clement-Jones, Baron Clement-Jones, is a Liberal Democrat peer and spokesman for the digital economy in the House of Lords.
Denise Phua Lay Peng is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as Mayor of Central Singapore District since 2014. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Kampong Glam division of Jalan Besar GRC since 2015.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism is a group in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The group exists to "To combat antisemitism and help develop and seek implementation of effective public policy to combat antisemitism". After the 2024 general election, the group's chair is Joani Reid MP (Labour) and the vice-chairs are the MPs Christine Jardine, David Pinto-Duschinsky (Labour) and Saqib Bhatti (Conservative). Secretariat to the group is provided by the PCAA Foundation.
The Autism Act 2009 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act makes provision about the needs of adults who have autistic spectrum disorders including autism and Asperger syndrome.
Julie Elliott is a British Labour Party politician, who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sunderland Central from 2010 to 2024. Elliott served as Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change from October 2013 to September 2015, with specific responsibility for renewable energy, the Green Investment Bank, and skills and supply chain issues. She has also served as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Rugby Union and vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on State Pension Inequality for Women. Elliott was re-elected for the Labour Party in Sunderland Central at the 2019 general election with a majority of 2,964.
David John Mowat is a former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington South, and was first elected at the 2010 general election. He was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Care and Support at the Department of Health in July 2016. He lost the seat to Labour at the 2017 election.
Caroline Julia Dinenage, Baroness Lancaster of Kimbolton,, also styled as Dame Caroline Dinenage, is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gosport since 2010.
Mark McDonald is a Scottish politician who was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Aberdeen Donside constituency from 2013 to 2021, having previously represented the North East Scotland region between 5 May 2011 and 14 May 2013. Formerly a Scottish National Party politician and Minister for Childcare and Early Years in the Scottish Government, he was suspended by the SNP in November 2017 following allegations of inappropriate behaviour against several women. Following a party investigation, the claims were substantiated, McDonald issued an apology on 6 March 2018, announcing he had now left the SNP and would sit in the Scottish Parliament as an Independent.
Autism Cymru was Wales' national charity for autism with offices in Cardiff, Wrexham, and Aberystwyth. The charity was established in May 2001 through an initial 3-year grant provided by The Shirley Foundation. The founder chair of the Trustees was Dame Stephanie Shirley of the Shirley Foundation.
Abimbola "Bim" Afolami is a British Conservative Party politician. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hitchin and Harpenden in Hertfordshire from the 2017 general election until 2024. He was the Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 2023 to 2024.
Jared Cain O'Mara is a British convicted fraudster and former Labour politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Hallam from 2017 to 2019.
Charalambos "Bambos" Charalambous is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Southgate and Wood Green, previously Enfield Southgate, since 2017. While in opposition he held a series of shadow ministry posts. He was suspended from the Labour Party during an investigation into a complaint against him between June 2023 and April 2024, but the complaint was not upheld.
Ben Morgan Lake is a Plaid Cymru politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ceredigion Preseli, formerly Ceredigion, since 2017.
Juli Crocombe is a consultant psychiatrist and specialist in autism. She has been appointed director of clinical services and research for the charity Caudwell Children. She was formerly clinical director for autistic spectrum disorders at St Andrew's Healthcare and before that a consultant psychiatrist for South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. She is chairperson of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism.
Morénike Giwa Onaiwu is an American educator, author, and autism and HIV advocate. Alongside E. Ashkenazy and Lydia Brown, Onaiwu is an editor of All the Weight of Our Dreams, an anthology of art and writing entirely by autistic people of color published by the Autism Women's Network in June 2017.