Covid-19: People with Learning Difficulties and Autism - Question

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:09 pm on 5 October 2020.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lord Bethell Lord Bethell The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care 3:09, 5 October 2020

My Lords, let me clarify with an update on the numbers. As of 25 September 2020, 690 deaths from Covid of people with learning disabilities have been reported to the leader programme since 16 March. We have commissioned Public Health England to carry out additional analysis of the existing data, which will be published as soon as it is completed. We are not trying to hide from this issue. Covid has raised very serious questions about the impact of a pandemic on those with learning difficulties, who are often more susceptible to disease and mortality than others. We absolutely accept the challenge of figuring out how to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Therefore, we will embrace the opportunity to take these learnings and put them into a disability report at some point in the future.