Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans to extend the Learning Disability Mortality Review programme beyond 2019.

The delivery of the Learning Disability Mortality Review (LeDeR) Programme, which is focused on monitoring and addressing premature mortality for people with a learning disability, is a key element of the national cross-system learning from deaths programme. The LeDeR programme is delivered by the University of Bristol, under contract to the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership, which commissioned the programme on behalf of NHS England.

NHS England has informed the Department that the programme is part of NHS England’s work to improve services for people with a learning disability and their families. The original contract arrangement was for a three year period with the option to extend the LeDeR programme for a fourth and fifth year. NHS England has extended the programme for 2018/19 (year four). To support the delivery of the LeDeR programme in 2018/19, NHS England secured an additional £1.4 million funding to support local clinical commissioning group/sustainability and transformation partnership areas to better establish their review programmes and reduce backlogs of reviews. A decision by NHS England to extend the LeDeR programme for a fifth year has not been taken.