Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to require the Care Quality Commission to consult committees of (a) local district and (b) county councils when preparing Quality reports.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The CQC is responsible for developing and implementing its methodology for assessing whether providers are meeting the registration requirements through its inspection and monitoring of providers.

The CQC has provided the following information:

CQC does not formally consult committees of local district and county councils during the inspection and reporting process of NHS acute providers. Representatives of local authorities may be invited to attend to provide input in accordance with their statutory roles and support the provider in developing and taking forward their action plan. In the case of large or complex NHS providers, this may include representatives from a number of different local authorities.