Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Appendix 1 of the guidance by NHS England entitled Improving identification of people with a learning disability: guidance for general practice, published on 11 October 2019, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people that have a learning disability; and how many and what proportion of those people are (a) on the learning disability register and (b) not on the register despite having conditions that would automatically entitle them to be on the register.

There are approximately 1.3 million people in England with a learning disability, according to Mencap figures. NHS England data shows that, as of March 2023, there were 347,840 people of all ages with a learning disability on the learning disability register in England. However, this learning disability register is voluntary, and not everyone chooses to register.

It is a statutory requirement under the Equality Act 2010 that public sector agencies make reasonable adjustments to their practice that will make them as accessible and effective as they would be for people without disabilities. NHS England has published guidance aimed at improving the identification of people with a learning disability, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/improving-identification-of-people-with-a-learning-disability-guidance-for-general-practice.pdf

General practices should review this guidance and update their registers at least annually, to ensure that they are accurate.