Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to ban 15-minute personal care visits.

The Care Act 2014 is clear that commissioning services without properly considering the impact on people’s wellbeing is unacceptable. However, it would be inappropriate to introduce a blanket ban on 15 minute homecare visits. They may be appropriate in certain circumstances, for instance, checking a person’s medication has been taken.

Ultimately, local authorities are responsible for the commissioning of services. We are supporting local authorities to improve commissioning of care.

The Department has also worked with local government and the care sector to develop and encourage good practice in commissioning and managing local adult social care markets. A suite of guidance is now available at the on-line Hub on GOV.UK.

The Department is working with organisations from across the adult social care sector to implement Quality Matters – a shared commitment to take action to achieve high quality social care. Under this initiative, the Local Government Association has published the Integrated Commissioning for Better Outcomes framework to support sector-led improvement in adult social care commissioning.