Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to then Minister for Care's oral contribution of 10 June 2021, Official Report, Column 491WH, when his Department will publish the delivery plan setting out how a 50 per cent reduction in occupancy of in-patient beds by people with learning disabilities and autism will be met.

The Department is developing an action plan to achieve at least a 50% reduction in the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people who are inpatients in mental health hospitals by 2023/24. Once finalised, the action plan will set out the actions for the Department, other Government departments, the National Health Service, local government and other delivery partners to improve the treatment of autistic people and people with learning disabilities and support them to live well in the community, with clear ownership and timescales for delivery. We intend to publish the action plan before the end of the year, once we have concluded our engagement with stakeholders.