Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the document by NHS England entitled 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance, published on 30 January 2025, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the removal of the NHS target for completion of annual health checks for people with a learning disability on health inequalities for people with learning disabilities in Herefordshire.

The NHS Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance for 2025-26 addresses the urgent challenges facing the NHS, as highlighted by the Darzi investigation. My Rt. Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, recently announced a series of reforms to the NHS operating model to move power from the centre to local leaders. In keeping with these reforms, we are giving systems greater control and flexibility over how funding is deployed to best meet the needs of their local population.

NHS England recognises the importance of the learning disability annual health check. The NHS Operational Planning Guidance for 2025/26 still requires integrated care boards to report on the number of people on the quality outcome framework learning disability register aged 14 years old or over who receive an annual health check during the quarter. The planning guidance is not a catalogue of everything the NHS does, nor is it the sole evidence of our priorities. It remains important that people with a learning disability and autistic people have the right, tailored support in place.