Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what baseline figure his Department will use to measure progress on reducing the number of (a) people with a learning disability and (b) autistic people in mental health hospitals by 10 per cent within 2025-26.

National Health Service planning guidance for 2025/26 includes a focus on improving care for people with a learning disability and autistic people and contains the objective to deliver a minimum 10% reduction in the use of mental health inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people in 2025/26. The baselines being used to measure progress against operational planning guidance are: adults with a learning disability, including those who may also be autistic, in mental health inpatient care as of 31 March 2024, based on Assuring Transformation data extracted from 31 March 2024; and adults who are autistic, with no learning disability, in mental health inpatient care as of 31 March 2024, based on Assuring Transformation data extracted from 31 March 2024.

The expectation is that integrated care boards will have been working towards achieving a 10% reduction from the 31 March 2024 baseline by 31 March 2025, and will build on this during 2025/26. They are therefore expected to achieve a 20% reduction from the 31 March 2024 baseline by 31 March 2026.