Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the experience of inequalities in adult social care need by ethnicity; and what plans his Department has to tackle that matter.
No assessment has been made. The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC’s) new strategy contains a core ambition to tackle inequalities in health and care, which includes regulating to advance equality and protect people’s human rights. As part of CQC’s commitment to drive improvement in quality, CQC expects services and local systems to address inequalities in access, experiences, and outcomes. Local authorities have a duty under the Care Act to prevent needs of the local population deteriorating.
We are committed to publishing a Health Disparities White Paper later this year which will set out a series of impactful measures to address health disparities and their causes, including those linked to geography, deprivation and ethnicity.