Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential duplication of (a) regulatory and (b) inspection activity in adult social care between the (i) Care Quality Commission and (ii) local authority adult social care services.

There is no direct duplication between how the Care Quality Commission (CQC) assesses individual registered providers and how local authorities oversee providers within their areas. Both bodies are involved in evaluating quality and safety, but they do so under different legislative frameworks and for distinct purposes.

The CQC’s remit is to assess registered providers against the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The CQC monitors, inspects, and regulates services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring registered adult social care providers deliver care that meets people’s needs and the duties as set out in the Care Act 2014. Their oversight thus tends to focus on quality, safeguarding, and contract compliance. The CQC works with local authorities to share information and intelligence and are working on ways to strengthen these links.

Similarly, there is no direct duplication between how the CQC assesses individual registered providers and how the CQC assesses local authorities. CQC provider regulation assesses against the Health and Social Care Act 2008, whereas local authority assessments assess against the Care Act 2014. Both pieces of legislation require different methodology, however they can be used to inform each other.

The commission into adult social care is independent of the Government, and Baroness Casey has the autonomy to define her own engagement plans, including with ministers, based on what she believes is most appropriate for the commission’s work.