Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what minimum English language proficiency requirements apply to frontline adult social care workers in England; and whether his Department, or any relevant regulator, has conducted audits or assessments in the last five years of the ability of non‑native English‑speaking staff in those roles to communicate effectively in English with service users and carers.

Providers registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are required to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, and experienced staff and only employ 'fit and proper' staff who are able to provide care and treatment appropriate to their role, as per Regulations 18 and 19 of the Health and Social Care 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 respectively.

It is the responsibility of a care provider to ensure that everyone involved in the delivery of services has the required level of English language competence to enable them to communicate effectively with people who use services and colleagues.

The CQC can assess providers’ compliance with these regulations through assessment and monitoring activity. Where an assessment of a service has been carried out, individual reports will be published to the CQC’s website. Where a breach or non-compliance of regulation is identified, the CQC can take regulatory action as set out in the CQC’s published enforcement policy, which is available at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-regulation/providers/enforcement/enforcement-policy