Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support care homes in financial difficulty but not deemed by the CQC to be a risk or a priority which will not now receive an additional CQC inspection for more than a year.

Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the care needs of their populations. Under the Care Act 2014 they are required to shape their local markets, and ensure that people have a range of high-quality, sustainable and person-centred care and support options available to them, so that they can access the services that best meet their needs. We have made £4.6 billion available to local authorities so they can address pressures on local services.

The Care Act 2014 also provides for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to monitor the financial health of the largest and most difficult-to-replace adult social care providers. This allows the CQC to warn local authorities if a provider is likely to fail for financial reasons and gives local authorities time to stand up their contingency plans.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the CQC has adapted its way of working in order to continue to deliver its core regulatory role of keeping people safe during challenging circumstances. This has included developing a range of tools to identify providers that needed extra support and undertaking additional Infection Prevention and Control inspections in care homes.