Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of pay for care sector roles on the number of vacancies within that sector.

We have made no recent assessment.

Vacancy rates are likely not the best measure of capacity, or lack of capacity, in the sector. Independent providers make the decision on whether to advertise vacancies based on their aspirations to grow their businesses and the expected churn of workers within the sector.