Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of adult social care provision in Lincolnshire.

Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population, which is why, under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all people. This includes commissioning a variety of different providers and specialist services that provide genuine choice to meet the needs of local people and that offer quality and value for money.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is now assessing how local authorities in England, including Lincolnshire County Council, are delivering adult social care. This means they are looking at how local authorities are meeting the full range of their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014.

If the CQC identifies a local authority has failed or is failing to discharge its duties under the Care Act to an acceptable standard, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has powers to intervene.

The CQC's assessments of local authorities began in December 2023, following the conclusion of five pilot assessments undertaken by the CQC in November 2023, to test their assessment framework and methodology. Lincolnshire County Council was one of the local authorities that took part in the CQC’s pilots and was given an indicative rating of ‘Good’. Their report can be found on the CQC’s website, at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/care-services/local-authority-assessment-reports/lincolnshire-cc