Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to safeguard private care home residents from being subject to hidden costs for their care.

The Government agrees that transparency is important in enabling people to make informed decisions about the support that is right for them and that they should be able to compare providers more easily. We are exploring ways to allow better, more transparent feedback about services and offer other comparative information, including on price. This includes considering a new requirement for providers regulated by the Care Quality Commission to be more transparent about their fees and any additional costs. Any new requirement would be a legislative change and would need the appropriate legislative vehicle to be identified.