Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the capacity of care settings to cope with extreme heat in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) Lancashire.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator with oversight of quality and safety in health and care settings. Regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 compels providers to assess the risks to the health and safety of service users receiving the care or treatment and to do all that is reasonably practicable to mitigate any such risks. This includes having an appropriate assessment of environmental risks, such as extreme heat events.

The CQC would expect providers to follow national guidance on extreme heat safety and to follow any relevant heat alerts when these are issued.