Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to continue the LeDeR programme beyond the expiration of its current national contract; and, if they have no such plans, what alternative framework they will implement to ensure continued oversight, review and learning from the deaths of people with a learning disability and autistic people.

The Government is clear that the stark health inequalities and poor life expectancy faced by people with a learning disability are unacceptable. This is recognised in the 10-Year Health Plan, with key objectives within the plan being to equip health and care services to narrow health inequalities, drive earlier intervention through a shift from treatment to prevention, and ensure more holistic support in the community.

Learning from lives and deaths – people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) reviews are a crucial part of tackling the health inequalities faced by people with a learning disability and autistic people and aim to drive key service improvements to improve health outcomes and prevent avoidable deaths at a local level. We remain committed to reviewing every death that is notified to LeDeR, learning from both good and poor practice, and ensuring that learning from reviews is shared and used to drive tangible service improvements.

NHS England’s national LeDeR policy sets out a clear governance framework and expectation that integrated care boards (ICBs) should prioritise LeDeR reviews within their delivery plans and ensure that actions are implemented to improve services and reduce premature mortality for their local populations. We have recognised that more can be done to ensure consistent delivery across ICBs and will continue to work with NHS England to strengthen oversight, assurance, and support where needed.