Care Quality Commission: Inspections
(asked on 27th April 2016) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the Care Quality Commission spent on hotels and accommodation for inspectors in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The rise in the cost of hotels and accommodation for inspectors is due to the new inspection methodology that the CQC started to introduce in 2014. This requires much larger inspection teams, visiting hospital trusts and care providers for longer periods. The results of the inspection provides a more thorough assessment of provider performance and gives better assurance of quality to patients and the public.
During 2015-16, the CQC completed its inspection programme for all acute trusts, the largest and most complex organisations. The CQC business plan for 2016-17 sets out its trajectory for completing the first round of its comprehensive inspection programme.
The CQC has provided the following information.
Expenditure on hotels and accommodation for inspectors by Financial Year1,2 | |||||
| 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
Total | £ 277,037 | £494,600 | £1,399,950 | £2,684,616 | £5,049,431 |
1 This table includes a small proportion of accommodation costs for non-inspection activity, such as accommodation costs for attending training courses and conferences. These amounts are not separately identified in the CQC accounts.
2 Figures include VAT where applicable.