Autism and Learning Disability: Coronavirus

(asked on 1st June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to support the needs of (a) autistic people and (b) people with learning difficulties during the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Helen Whately Portrait
Helen Whately
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 18th June 2020

On 15 April, we set out our comprehensive action plan to support the adult social care sector in England throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, including ramping up testing, overhauling the way personal protective equipment is being delivered to care homes and helping to minimise the spread of the virus to keep people safe.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have published a range of guidance to support management of people with autism and learning disabilities during the COVID-19 outbreak which has been updated throughout the pandemic at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/letter-responding-to-covid-19-mental-health-learning-disabilities-and-autism/

On 8 April, the Chancellor announced £750 million to support the charity sector in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 22 May a further announcement was made which detailed the health and social care charities that would be in receipt of a further £22 million of that funding, which includes funding for learning disability and autism charities. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/22-million-awarded-to-life-saving-health-charities-during-virus-outbreak

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