Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many deaths have been reported within learning disability services since 5 March, broken down by (1) race, (2) age, and (3) gender, compared with the equivalent period last year. [T]

NHS England can confirm that five people with a learning disability, autism or both have died within a specialist inpatient setting between 5 March and 30 April 2020, the latest data available. This includes people who were transferred from a specialist inpatient setting to an acute setting and subsequently died. In the same period last year less than five people died within a specialist inpatient setting. NHS England hold demographic data on gender, age and ethnicity of these patients, but cannot provide them due to the low patient numbers leading to a high chance of patient identification.

Public Health England are undertaking a thorough analysis of data on the deaths of people with learning disabilities, including looking at age, gender and ethnicity of people who have died. This will draw on data published by NHS England and the Care Quality Commission to understand the impact of COVID-19 on this group of people and the specific risks that they may face from the virus.