Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the <i>Winterbourne View—Time for Change</i> report published in November 2014 and the <i>Transforming Care for People with Learning Disabilities—Next Steps</i> report published January 2015, what plans they have to introduce a national mandatory commissioning framework for community services for people with a learning disability or autism whose behaviour challenges.

NHS England has a core function to support local commissioning development by setting out clearer expectations about the services which need to be in place to meet standards. It is also able to support commissioners in putting such services in place, but it is not able to mandate a specific way of commissioning services.

The Department is currently consulting on whether to use powers under the Care Act 2014 to mandate pooled budgets between local government and the National Health Service for spending on appropriate community based care for people with learning disabilities. The consultation document was published on 6 March and can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/strengthening-rights-for-people-with-learning-disabilities