Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission as the regulator of community and inpatient mental health services facilities; and if he will make a statement.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England, including mental health services. The CQC also takes enforcement action where necessary if it identifies a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

The CQC gathers and analyses data from service users, providers, system partners and stakeholders to monitor the quality of care and address specific issues during inspections. After inspections, the CQC can take enforcement action and providers must formulate an action plan where standards have not been met. In independent and National Health Service mental health settings in 2020/21, the CQC took 174 regulatory actions and there were 225 such actions in 2021/22. As of July 2022, 77% of all mental health core services were rated as good or outstanding.