Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it a statutory requirement for care homes to have backup electricity generators in order to manage power outages.

The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC's) role as the independent regulator of health and adult social care is to ensure that services meet the fundamental standards of quality and safety in the statutory regulations. If as part of its inspection and monitoring of care providers, the CQC becomes aware that a care home does not have a contingency plan in place for serious incidents, such as the loss of power or heating, it would take the appropriate regulatory action.