Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to make provision for the Care Quality Commission to inspect and monitor supported accommodation including standards of care and oversight, to ensure vulnerable people receive adequate support.

All supported accommodation providers must comply with their existing legal duties, including meeting the relevant standards for the quality of accommodation.

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, supported living providers need to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) if they carry out the regulated activity of ‘personal care’. The attached CQC’s guidance Housing with care provides further information. The Department is not currently reviewing the definitions of existing regulated activities as set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

The CQC assesses how local authorities in England are meeting the regulated care functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. This includes assessments relating to safeguarding, as well as market capacity and timeliness of supported living service provision. If the CQC finds that a local authority is failing to perform its functions under the Care Act to an acceptable standard, it will continue to inform my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, under section 50 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. Following this notification, the Department will decide on and co-ordinate any improvement or intervention activity with the local authority.

We are clear that all supported housing settings must provide a safe, supportive, and secure environment that supports people to live independently. The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 aims to deliver on this ambition. The act introduces new national supported housing standards for the support provided, and a locally led licensing framework. The Government’s response in April to the relevant consultation stated its intention to require licensees to pass a fit and proper person test, and to require the licensed supported housing schemes to meet the new national supported housing standards which include standards on staff and safeguarding. The Government will consult on draft regulations later this year.

The Government is committed to reviewing the licensing regime after three years as required by the 2023 act. The Department currently has no plan to expand the CQC’s duties to encompass supported housing, but will work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the CQC to keep the effectiveness of licensing under review.