Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish details of the Section 31 notice issued to Mid and South Essex Hospitals relating to maternity services at Broomfield Hospital.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is working to publish its report following its inspection of maternity services in Mid and South Essex at the earliest opportunity. Publication of the report, following the Care Quality Commission’s inspection of maternity services in Mid and South Essex, has been delayed due to system and technology issues that have occurred during a large-scale transformation programme within the CQC. Details about any enforcement action, including the Section 31 against Broomfield Hospital, will be included in the full report.

The CQC is taking urgent steps to ensure that it is able to publish inspection reports in a more timely manner. While the publication of some reports has been delayed, any immediate action that is needed to take to protect people using these services will not have been affected, and is being acted on appropriately.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the report of the CQC inspection of maternity services in Mid and South Essex carried out in March 2024.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is working to publish its report following its inspection of maternity services in Mid and South Essex at the earliest opportunity. Publication of the report, following the Care Quality Commission’s inspection of maternity services in Mid and South Essex, has been delayed due to system and technology issues that have occurred during a large-scale transformation programme within the CQC. Details about any enforcement action, including the Section 31 against Broomfield Hospital, will be included in the full report.

The CQC is taking urgent steps to ensure that it is able to publish inspection reports in a more timely manner. While the publication of some reports has been delayed, any immediate action that is needed to take to protect people using these services will not have been affected, and is being acted on appropriately.

Found: Ballinger; Aphra Brandreth; Phil Brickell; Dan Carden; Richard Foord; Blair McDougall; Sir John Whittingdale

Found: Foreign Affairs Committee members present: Emily Thornberry; Uma Kumaran; Abtisam Mohamed; Sir John Whittingdale

Found: Foreign Affairs Committee members present: Emily Thornberry; Uma Kumaran; Abtisam Mohamed; Sir John Whittingdale

No description available

This inquiry will explore the extent and effectiveness of the UK’s soft power in what is an increasingly challenging global environment. The inquiry will consider the UK’s unique soft power strengths and ask how the UK might best measure and actualise the benefits it accrues from its soft power. This inquiry will also scrutinise the work of the Government’s new Soft Power Council and any subsequent strategy to strengthen UK soft power.

Submit Evidence (by 24 Feb 2025)

Misinformation and disinformation campaigns are increasingly weaponised by hostile state and non-state actors and this inquiry will seek to understand which actors are primarily responsible, and which channels and technologies are being used. It will seek to map motivations, sources and locations of the most pressing disinformation threats to democracy, and to understand the impact of artificial intelligence. The inquiry will examine how the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) can work with allies and multilateral organisations to combat the spread of disinformation that seeks to undermine democratic values and institutions. The inquiry will also ask how the Government can coordinate its counter-disinformation work across departments and best work with private organisations. This inquiry will take a regional approach by examining disinformation campaigns within Europe, the Americas, Indo-Pacific and Africa, to understand how the UK can better counter disinformation from malign actors.