Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the provision of adult social care in Wolverhampton.

To improve the quality of adult social care, the Government has introduced a tough system of Care Quality Commission (CQC) ratings, new qualifications for care workers and new standards to ensure that everyone receives the highest quality support.

The CQC thoroughly inspects each service and if they found poor quality in any area including Wolverhampton has powers to close those that do not improve and take tough action against owners. This inspection regime is playing a key role in driving up the quality of care. As of July 2017 the CQC rates 79% of adult social care services as good or outstanding.

The Care Act 2014 placed a duty on local authorities in England to promote a diverse, sustainable, high quality market of care and support providers for people in their local area to meet those needs. The Department has published statutory guidance to support local authorities in their market shaping duties.