Brown to meet autism campaigner

PM promises mother who launched 'Dear Gordon' billboard blitz that sufferers and carers will get more help

The Prime Minister sent the former actress and mother of three, Polly Tommey, 42, a seven-page letter, just days after her "Dear Gordon ..." billboard campaign was launched in London.

Mr Brown has offered Mrs Tommey the opportunity to meet government officials, including his health adviser, Greg Beales, and the care minister, Phil Hope, on 15 April. He has agreed to meet her personally at a later date. In his letter, the PM acknowledges that families are not getting the help they need and that health and social care services must improve: "We understand that people often don't get the support they need and deserve. We therefore want to do more to provide this support and I am determined to drive improvements in the NHS and local authority services, so people with autism experience real improvements in their everyday lives."

Mrs Tommey's son, Billy, who turns 13 at the end of April, was diagnosed with autism at the age of two and is about to start at a pioneering new residential school in Brighton. There he will be taught life skills that other children his age take for granted.

Mrs Tommey had made repeated attempts to reach the PM and other ministers over the last few months but had failed to get any response until now.

Her charity, the Autism Trust, believes the Government could save more than £500m a year by helping just 20 per cent of adults with autism or parents of children with autism back into work. According to a report by Kings College London in 2008, the condition costs the UK £27.5bn every year.

"Gordon Brown will meet me and talk to me about autism," she said yesterday. "There is no way I am going to let him back out now, otherwise this whole thing would have been a complete waste of time. I've been promised several meetings with his officials, but he has also said he will meet me personally."

Mrs Tommey was motivated to launch the current campaign after two parents who subscribe to the Autism File – an online magazine which she edits – committed suicide after failing to get the right help and support for their children.

She convinced the advertising giant Peter Mead, and everyone else involved in realising the campaign, to work for free by telling them about the desperate calls she receives from isolated families on the telephone helpline she runs from home.

In his letter to her, Mr Brown acknowledged that the Government could benefit from her vast experience and knowledge of the condition.

A helpline run by the National Autistic Society receives 50,000 calls every year from families struggling to cope because of patchy health, education and social care services. Seven out of 10 autistic children also have a mental illness, while one third of adults with the condition report serious mental health problems caused by a lack of support.