Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made on the potential merit of local authorities providing adult social care services based on an in-house, insourced service model.

Local authorities are responsible for the commissioning of care and support services to meet the needs of the local population. The Health and Care Act 2022 includes provisions for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to assess the performance of local authorities' of delivery adult social care duties, as set out under the Care Act 2014. The CQC has been working with local government and the care sector to develop a framework for these assessments, which includes consideration of how local authorities undertake commissioning and market shaping duties.