Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with (a) Stoke-on-Trent City Council and (b) the Care Quality Commission on the review of the local health and social care system report published by the Core Quality Commission on 10 November 2017.

There have been no specific discussions. However, Departmental officials are liaising with both Stoke-on-Trent Council and the Care Quality Commission.

Following the budget announcement of additional funding for adult social care in the March 2017, the Department of Health and the Department for Communities and Local Government asked the Care Quality Commission to undertake a programme of targeted system reviews in 20 local authority areas. One of these was Stoke-on-Trent. The purpose of the reviews is to understand better the pressures and challenges within a local system and identify any areas for improvement in the provision of health and care.

Following the publication of the Care Quality Commission’s review findings, Stoke-on-Trent is developing an action plan to deliver improvement, with support from the Social Care Institute for Excellence and from the Local Government Association, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement.

The Care Quality Commission will deliver an interim report on their review findings, including those for Stoke-on-Trent, to the Secretary of State in mid-December 2017, with a concluding report in the summer of 2018.