Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make the NHS Accessible Information Standard legally enforceable.

The revised Accessible Information Standard (AIS) was published on 1 July, and is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/accessible-information-standard/

NHS England is working to support implementation of the AIS with awareness raising, communication and engagement, and a review of the current e-learning modules on the AIS. The intention is to ensure that staff and organisations in the National Health Service are aware of the AIS and the importance of meeting the information and communication needs of disabled people using services.

Since 2016, all NHS organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the AIS, which details the recommended approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of patients and carers with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss.

The responsibility for monitoring compliance with the AIS sits with the commissioner of the service.

The revised standard requires those staff in relevant communication and information roles to be adequately trained. The AIS conformance criteria, published in 2016 and updated in June 2025, set out how organisations should comply with the AIS. NHS England is leading a system wide review of mandatory training which will include a new governance framework and a table of statutory obligations as well as a new competency framework setting out all nationally mandated subjects and learning outcomes.

Following the commencement of regulations made under the Health and Care Act 2022, mandatory information standards will be introduced in a staged process. NHS England will consider the case for developing a mandatory AIS standard, and the timing for this, along with the other existing standards.