Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many residential and nursing homes have closed permanently (a) nationally and (b) in the North West region since 2016.

The Department does not hold data on the number of care home closures since 2016. However, data from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is available on the change in the number of care homes in England, which reflects both openings and closures over time.

Due to the devolved nature of social care, figures are only available for England and the North West. These are taken from averaging across quarterly CQC data.

The CQC’s data shows that there were 16,839 care homes in England in January 2016 compared to 15,738 in April 2019, giving a net reduction of 901 homes, a 6.5% reduction.

However, the total number of beds in England has remained relatively stable since 2016 because the average size of a care home has increased over that period. There were 461,793 beds in January 2016 compared to 456,333 beds in April 2019, a 1.2% reduction.

The CQC’s data shows that there were 2,039 care homes in the North West in January 2016 compared to 1,914 in April 2019, giving a net reduction of 105 homes, a 6% reduction.

However, the total number of beds in the North West has remained relatively stable since 2016 because the average size of a care home has increased over that period. There were 63,005 beds in January 2016 compared to 61,704 beds in April 2019, a 2.06% reduction.

Nationally, England has seen a decrease of 1.5% in the number of residential and nursing beds from January 2015 to April 2019.

In the North West, there has been a decrease of 2% in the number of residential and nursing beds from January 2015 to April 2019.