Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the need for out-of-area placements in residential and nursing care.

Decisions about care placements are made locally, based on individual assessments of need and personal circumstances. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets and commission services to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes commissioning a variety of different providers and specialist services that provide genuine choice to meet the needs of local people and that offer quality and value for money.

There is no single national assessment of the impact of out‑of‑area placements on access to family support networks. However, local authorities should engage with people who draw on care and support, and their families and carers, to inform commissioning decisions and to consider the outcomes which matter to them.

Under the Health and Care Act 2022, the Care Quality Commission has a statutory duty to assess how well local authorities are delivering their adult social care duties. However, we recognise that out-of-area placements can sometimes occur due to a lack of available provision in the area.