Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of local authority commissioning arrangements in ensuring the financial sustainability of small and independent residential care providers.

The issues raised by the Hon Member will be among those considered by Baroness Casey’s commission, as she develops her proposals for a National Care Service. The Government has brought Baroness Casey’s final report forward to next summer, and we will set out next steps once that report is received.