Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Care Quality Commission adequately monitors the provision of meaningful activities in care homes.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is responsible for assessing care home providers for compliance with standards in the assessment framework and the accompanying quality statements. Care homes are expected to promote independence, give care home residents choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing, including around meaningful activities.

The Department continues to work closely with the CQC as they make changes to their assessment framework and regulatory approach, ahead of formal consultation planned in the autumn.