Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help improve the mental wellbeing of people with learning disabilities who experienced isolation during the covid-19 outbreak.

We have commissioned the University of Warwick and Manchester Metropolitan University to undertake a study into the impact of the pandemic on people with learning disabilities. This study monitored the experiences of people with a learning disability throughout the pandemic, to improve our understanding of the impact on the wellbeing and lives of people with a learning disability.

In addition to the expansion of National Health Service mental health services through the NHS Long Term Plan, the Government provided more than £34 million to organisations supporting those experiencing loneliness during the pandemic. The Government also updated the ‘Let’s Talk Loneliness’ campaign and established a new Tackling Loneliness Network of private, public and charity sector organisations.