Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission in facilitating change where there have been systemic failings in the health and care sector.

As the independent regulator of health and social care in England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) ensures health and social care services provide safe, effective, compassionate, high quality care and encourages care services to improve. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, the CQC has powers to undertake special or thematic reviews or investigations under section 48 when instructed by the Secretary of State, where the failings are systemic. Following thematic reviews, the CQC can make recommendations to the appropriate bodies.

Where there are systemic failings in an individual provider, the CQC will use enforcement powers, including issuing warning notices, imposing conditions or cancelling the registration of the provider. The CQC can recommend for a National Health Service trust to be placed in the recovery support programme and works closely with NHS England to monitor actions and improvements. The Health and Care Act 2022 will provide the CQC with new powers to assess integrated care systems (ICSs) and local authorities for delivering its duties under the Care Act 2014. The CQC will use its single assessment framework to ensure a consistent approach to regulation across providers, ICSs and local authorities.