Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the quality of training on restrictive interventions delivered to providers of inpatient care for people with learning disabilities and autistic people.

There are currently no plans to make this specific assessment.

However, we are committed to reducing the use of restrictive practices for inpatients who are autistic and/or have a learning disability, including taking a range of actions to improve staff training on restrictive practices.

For example, under section five of the Use of Force Act, the responsible person for each mental health unit must provide training for staff on use of force. Training needs to comply with the Restraint Reduction Network Training Standards 2019, which provide a national benchmark for training, and have been endorsed by a wide range of professional bodies, charities and Government arm’s length bodies.

NHS England have commissioned the “HOPE(S)” training model, which is being delivered to embed good practice across inpatient services to reduce the use of long-term segregation and restrictive practices for people with a learning disability and autistic people. The model follows a human-rights based framework and provides person-centred and trauma-informed approaches to working with people in long term segregation and their families, as well as specialist training for staff. The programme's outcomes will be evaluated by an independent research body and the work is subject to a National Oversight Group which meets quarterly to provide governance.