Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2025 to Question 32596 on Psychiatric Hospitals: Autism and Learning Disability, where the commitment has been documented; and what steps his Department has taken to communicate this to people working in the health and social care system.

The 2025/26 NHS Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance was published on 30 January 2025. It includes a focus on improving mental health and learning disability care and contains the objective to deliver a minimum 10% reduction in the use of mental health inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people in 2025/26.

Updates on the planning guidance have been provided at NHS England’s monthly Mental Health (MH) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Forum, attended by the vast majority of MH CEO’s or their deputies. NHS England also hosted a face-to-face planning guidance session and a question-and-answer session with MH CEOs in London.