Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to amend the list of people who are extremely vulnerable to covid-19 to include people with learning disabilities.

On 4 November adults with Down's syndrome were added to the clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) list based on evidence from the QCOVID risk stratification model, commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer via the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Committee.

This research identified that other people with learning disabilities without Down’s syndrome were not found to face a high enough risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 to be added the CEV list based on their learning disability alone. Some people with a learning disability will be considered CEV, by virtue of having another health condition on the CEV list.

The definition of CEV groups remains under constant review and if new scientific evidence comes to light then we would not hesitate to alter its composition as necessary.