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 adult social care providers maintain high standards of (a) staff training and (b) competency in Surrey Heath constituency.

Adult social care providers who carry out regulated activities in the Surrey Heath constituency are assessed by the Care Quality Commission for compliance with Regulation 18: Staffing of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Providers are required to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, and experienced staff to meet the needs of the people using the service at all times, and to enable them to meet all other regulatory requirements. Staff must receive the support, training, professional development, supervision, and appraisals that are necessary for them to carry out their role and responsibilities.

The Department’s Care Workforce Pathway is the first universal career structure, launched in January 2024, to support the adult social care workforce in England. It sets out the knowledge, skills, values, and behaviours needed to work, and develop a career in, adult social care.

The pathway recognises care workers as the professionals they are and promotes long-term career development, to support recruitment and retention across the sector. The Department continues to support care providers through its delivery partner to adopt the pathway and is also working with local care ecosystems to test the pathway’s benefits at a system level.

The Learning and Development Support Scheme, backed by up to £12 million this financial year, provides funding for over 200 training courses, including the Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate, which supports foundational skills. Alongside this, the Quality Assured Care Learning Service helps Care Providers identify high-quality courses by reviewing individual qualifications against bespoke standards, building trust in training quality and supporting workforce development.

The Department is also working with Skills England to assess current and future skills needs and to coordinate efforts across local authorities, training providers, and employers.