Health secretary is threatened with legal action over treatment of people with learning disabilities and autism

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has launched a legal challenge against England’s health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, over a repeated failure to move people with learning disabilities and autism into appropriate accommodation.

The commission is a statutory non-departmental public body that safeguards and enforces the laws protecting people’s rights to fairness, dignity, and respect. It said that it had longstanding concerns about the rights of more than 2000 people with learning disabilities and autism who were being detained …