Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) prevalence of the use of, (b) adequacy of the standards of service provided by and (c) potential impact on patient outcomes of the use of the private sector in the provision of mental health services in the NHS; and what steps she has taken to help ensure compliance by the private sector with the Code of Practice: Mental Health Act 1983.

No such specific assessment has been made. Private companies have always played a role in the National Health Service, and patients should expect a safe and good quality service regardless of whether their care is delivered by private sector or public sector providers. Local integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning health and care services for their local populations, in line with the standards set out in the NHS Standard Contract.

The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of health and care services. All providers of regulated activities, including those in the private sector, must register with the Care Quality Commission, and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality, below which care should never fall.

The Care Quality Commission also has a duty under the Mental Health Act 1983 to monitor how services exercise their powers and discharge their duties under the act when patients are detained in hospital or are subject to community treatment orders or guardianship.