Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS trusts whose maternity services are rated as requiring improvement for safety are required to publish (a) improvement plans and (b) regular progress reports.

Where concerns are identified following an inspection, the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC’s) report will indicate if a trust is required to provide an action plan and progress updates to the CQC. Action plan requests are determined by the level of enforcement taken and are the lowest level of enforcement action that the CQC can take.

Requests for action plans form part of the CQC's regulatory response and are used to support its ongoing monitoring of a trust. Members of the public may also raise issues relating to CQC inspection findings at National Health Service trust public board meetings.