Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Care Quality Commissions processes applications for registration from SMEs in the care sector in a timely manner.

The Department holds the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to account for its performance against its Key Performance Indicators, which include assessment of its registration of providers.

The CQC is acting to manage the increasing volume of registration applications more efficiently and to ensure it continues to assess the quality of applications against the regulations and fundamental standards. The improvements the CQC are making to its registration processes are for all providers, including small and medium-sized enterprises.