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<p>The Department plans to implement Section 95 later this year. This will be subject
to Parliament’s approval of the regulations setting out the procedure for preparing
and publishing mandatory information standards, on which the Department has recently
consulted.</p><p>Once Section 95 is in force and compliance with information standards
becomes mandatory, the Department will use section 251ZA, where appropriate, to monitor
compliance with information standards, including by requiring National Health Service
providers and others to whom information standards apply, to provide information for
this purpose.</p><p>NHS England is responsible for the Accessible Information Standard
(AIS), and plans to update the AIS to take account of the statutory approach to information
standards in due course. NHS England has also completed a review of the AIS to help
ensure that the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory
loss are met in health and care provision. One of the aims of the review was to strengthen
assurance of implementation of the AIS, and a self-assessment framework has been developed
to support providers of NHS and social care services to measure their performance
against the AIS, and develop improvement action plans to address gaps in implementation.</p><p>NHS
England will publish a revised AIS in due course. Following publication, NHS England
will continue work to support its implementation with awareness raising, communication
and engagement, and updated e-learning modules on the AIS, to ensure NHS staff are
better aware of the standard, and their roles and responsibilities in implementing
it.</p>
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