Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure NHS services are able to meet the needs of people with learning disabilities.

No specific assessment has been made. Under the Equality Act 2010, health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged. NHS England is working with NHS Digital to develop a ‘digital flag’ for reasonable adjustments in patient health records to ensure that National Health Service staff can tailor the support provided to the person’s specific needs. There are different categories of adjustments, including for communication support and requirements for accessible information. Since 2016, all NHS organisations are required to comply with the Accessible Information Standard. This includes making sure that people get information in accessible formats, which can include easy read formats.

On 1 July 2022, we introduced a requirement for Care Quality Commission-registered providers to ensure that staff receive mandatory training on learning disability and autism appropriate to their role.