Call for evidence outcome

Down Syndrome Act 2022 guidance: call for evidence

From:
Department of Health and Social Care
Published
19 July 2022
Last updated
5 November 2025 — See all updates

Applies to England

This call for evidence has closed

Read the full outcome

Down Syndrome Act 2022 guidance: call for evidence - outcome

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Detail of outcome

The call for evidence involved:

  • 2 versions of a survey - a main survey and an easy read version - which received 1,268 responses overall
  • 66 contributions directly to the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC’s) call for evidence mailbox
  • further contributions from a several stakeholder engagement sessions

This led to more than 1,500 total responses received.

Responses were received from:

  • people with Down syndrome
  • families and carers of people with Down syndrome
  • professionals and organisations, charities and groups who represent and provide services for people with Down syndrome

In recognition of the commitment to consider the wider benefits of the guidance, DHSC also collated the views of people with other genetic conditions and/or a learning disability.

Questions were structured around 4 topics:

  • health services
  • adult social care
  • housing
  • education and children’s social care

The outcome document summarises the main insights gathered across all channels during the call for evidence period. Overall, the findings support the need for Down syndrome guidance. The main themes include:

  • the need for a greater awareness of the legal duties to support people with Down syndrome
  • the need for a better understanding of the needs of people with Down syndrome
  • the importance of taking a person-centred approach to service provision, including putting reasonable adjustments in place, and improved communication between professionals and service users

The findings from this call for evidence have informed the development of the draft statutory guidance, which is currently being consulted upon as part of the Down Syndrome Act 2022 draft statutory guidance consultation.

See the outcome of the easy read version of this call for evidence. The BSL version will be published shortly.

Original call for evidence

Summary

We want your views on what should be included within the Down Syndrome Act statutory guidance.

This call for evidence ran from
to

Call for evidence description

This call for evidence will inform the development of the Down Syndrome Act 2022 statutory guidance. We are seeking your views on what should be included within the guidance. We will consider those views when producing draft guidance which we intend to publish for full public consultation. We will provide more information on this in due course.

This call for evidence will run for a period of 16 weeks and is open to everyone. People under the age of 13 will need consent from a parent or guardian to submit their response.

You can respond:

  • as an individual
  • on behalf of someone else
  • on behalf of an organisation

The easiest way to respond is to click on the ‘Respond online’ link in the box below.

See the easy read and BSL versions of this call for evidence.

Documents

Down Syndrome Act 2022 guidance: call for evidence

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Updates to this page

Published 19 July 2022
Last updated 5 November 2025 show all updates

  1. Added outcome to the call for evidence.

  2. Amended link in callout box to show where British Sign Language versions of the call for evidence are available.

  3. Updated the statement 'We also welcome written submissions from individuals and organisations who have an interest and expertise in working with and supporting people with Down’s syndrome' to add 'and other genetic conditions including learning disability'.

  4. First published.

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