Cross-Party Autism Group
Minutes
Friday 9th January 2026 11:00am - 11:30 pm Microsoft Teams
Present: Mark Isherwood MS (Chair), James Radcliffe (Secretary - NAS), Nigel Morgan, Mike Hedges MS,
Apologies: Kerrie Hopwood, Amy Gray, Janine Cusworth, Denise Jones, Llyr Grufydd,
1. Welcome
Mark Isherwood (MI) welcomed everyone to this meeting of the Senedd’s Cross-Party Autism Group, which was intended to be a short AGM.
2. Minutes of previous meeting
A decision was taken to postpone approval of the minutes of the last meeting in October due to a lack of people attending this meeting who had also attended the previous meeting.
3. Matters arising
James Radcliffe (JR) explained that the action in the previous meeting to write to the Welsh Government regarding the discussion had not happened due to the need to obtain consent from one of the speakers, and this was being chased.
4. Annual General Meeting
MI explained that the rules for cross party groups require an annual general meeting to take place, and this would occur in this meeting. He formally stood down as Chair, and JR opened nominations. MI was proposed by Mike Hedges MS, and email proposals for MI had been send from Paul Davies MS and Sioned Williams MS.
JR was then nominated for secretary by Mike Hedges MS, and by email from Sioned Williams MS. MI was duly re-elected as Chair and JR was duly re-elected as Secretary.
That concluded the formal business for the AGM.
5. Any other business
There was a short informal discussion regarding future topics and future speakers that could be discussed in future meetings including Post 16 education and transitions, the experiences of children who mask rather than appear to ‘misbehave’, and transport (including school transport).