Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answers of 6 February 2019 to Question 214478 on Foetuses: Analgesics and of 26 February 2019 to Question 223137 on Abortion, whose role it is to oversee clinical practices to ensure (a) consistency of practice and (b) equality of patient advice and care.

Individual organisations should have in place their own clinical governance and ensure their clinical practices are in line with any national guidelines. It is the role of the Care Quality Commission to monitor, inspect and regulate healthcare services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety.

Healthcare professional regulators, including the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, are responsible for assuring the fitness to practise of healthcare professionals, and can take action against professionals who do not meet the standards for professional conduct set by the regulators.