Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of mandating tighter application restrictions on operation of commissioning private care providers by local authorities through (a) financial viability assessment and (b) provision of financial history of directors of prospective care service delivery companies.

On registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), providers are required to submit a statement from an accredited financial specialist which confirms their ability to operate the service to required standards in a way that is financially viable. The Care Act 2014 Statutory Guidance sets out the responsibility of local authorities to facilitate and shape a care market that offers a diverse range of high-quality and appropriate services.

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 require that certain people working within a provider meet certain standards and demonstrate that they are appropriate for the role. Providers have a duty to have a ‘fit and proper’ person in director level roles and the CQC assesses a provider’s compliance with this as part of its regulatory role. The CQC confirms that the provider has made the appropriate checks regarding the fitness of director level roles to ensure suitability. The providers’ checks should include their previous regulatory history, Companies House information, financial viability, Disclosure and Barring Service checks and fit and proper persons interviews.

Providers should identify if a director has been responsible for or contributed to any serious misconduct or mismanagement (whether unlawful or not) in the course of carrying on a regulated activity. The CQC assesses a provider’s compliance with this as part of its regulatory role. No further assessment has been made of amending these restrictions.