Business of the House

Andrew Selous Excerpts

Thursday 24th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

That is a travesty of my party’s view about trade unions. I was a member of a trade union until I was expelled and described as a “pin-striped bovver boy” by ASTMS, the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs, back in the 1970s. The trade unions have a legitimate role to play in this country but we think that the very strong links between the trade unions and one political party are unhealthy for that party.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

Our constituents in care homes are among the most vulnerable we represent and the Care Quality Commission is supposed to be one of their guardians, yet its recommendations are not always implemented. May we have a debate on the important subject of how we protect those very vulnerable constituents?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is quite right that sometimes action is not taken. The answer is that the Care Quality Commission has a range of enforcement powers at its disposal and his message is that it should use those more often to address the problems he has described. The CQC has a range of enforcement powers that it can use to bring a provider back into compliance and in the case of the most serious failings it can cancel a provider’s registration, which would simply result in that provider’s closure. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has emphasised to the CQC the importance of driving up standards and using all the powers at its disposal to do that.