Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission in (a) identifying and (b) responding to poor standards of care in the adult social care sector in Surrey Heath constituency.

Dr Penny Dash’s review into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) uncovered significant failings in the internal workings of the CQC, which had led to a substantial loss of credibility within the health and social care sectors. Following the publication of the report, the Department is supporting the CQC as well as holding it to account to ensure that improvements are made rapidly. The CQC has already taken steps to address areas of immediate concern including enabling new assessments and reducing the backlog of registration applications.

The CQC is assessing how local authorities in England are delivering their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. Surrey County Council was rated ‘Good’ by the CQC. Their assessment was published on 20 November 2024, and is available at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/care-services/local-authority-assessment-reports/surrey-1124