Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made on the effectiveness of inspection methods in care homes.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England and has a key responsibility in the overall assurance of safety and quality of health and adult social care services. The CQC monitors its own effectiveness of inspection methods in care home and other health settings in a number of ways to ensure that everyone is safe from harm, abuse and neglect. In addition, the CQC is currently collaborating with the University of Manchester’s Alliance Manchester Business School on research exploring the impact of the CQC on the quality of care.