Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the trends in the level of (a) abuse directed towards patients in social care and (b) the number of convictions as a result of that abuse.

The Department does not directly collect data about numbers of people who have been abused and we do not collect data on convictions as a result of that abuse. However, we do monitor Section 42 enquiries and the outcome of these enquiries, which are about local authorities establishing whether an adult in their area:

- has needs for care and support (whether or not the authority is meeting any of those needs);

- is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect; and

- as a result of those needs is unable to protect himself or herself against the abuse or neglect or the risk of it.

Section 42 of the Care Act 2014 also requires councils to determine whether any action needs to be taken as a result of their enquiries.

The total number of Section 42 enquiries that commenced under the Care Act during 2017-18 fell by 1.1% to 131,860 compared to 2016-17.