Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of the Care Quality Commission's enforcement powers to ensure patient safety.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England, with a range of enforcement powers. The Department holds the CQC to account regularly for its overall performance and delivery of its regulatory functions.

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, the CQC has civil and criminal enforcement powers enabling it to protect the public and hold registered providers and managers to account where fundamental standards are not met, or regulated activities are provided without CQC registration. Civil powers focus on reducing risks to people using services, while criminal powers enable the CQC to take action in response to serious failures. In some cases, the CQC may use both types of enforcement action.

Decisions on enforcement action are a matter for the CQC, exercised in line with its statutory remit and published enforcement policy.