Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their current assessment of the percentage of "avoidable deaths" among those with a learning disability following the revision to the data published in the 2026 LeDeR report; and how this corrected figure will influence the targeted interventions within the NHS 10-Year Health Plan.

The headline findings of the updated 2023 Learning from lives and deaths – people with a learning disability and autistic people report remain consistent with those previously published. The updated analysis reaffirms that people with a learning disability continue to experience significant health inequalities, and on average, they die 19.5 years younger than the general population and are almost twice as likely to die from an avoidable cause of death. The proportion of deaths classed as avoidable is now higher than originally reported, at 40.2% compared to 38.8% previously reported. The downward trend over time remains, however the level of deaths classed as avoidable remains unacceptable.

The Government is committed to improving care for people with a learning disability and autistic people and has recognised the unacceptable inequalities and poor life expectancy this group of people faces within the 10-Year Health Plan. There is a range of work underway to drive service improvements and implement the plan’s goal to ensure more holistic, ongoing support in the community. This includes mandatory training on learning disability and autism for health and care staff, continued uptake of annual health checks, and roll out of a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag.