Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism for improving compliance with the Equality Act at CQC registered practices.

It is for individual organisations, including Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered practices, to comply with the Equality Act 2010, guidance on which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance

A code of practice has been published to guide CQC registered providers on how to meet the statutory requirement for learning disability and autism training under the Health and Care Act 2022 which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oliver-mcgowan-code-of-practice

The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism, otherwise known as Oliver’s Training, is the Government’s recommended training package.

The CQC has a role in assessing the completion and effectiveness of training, which may include Oliver’s Training, in relation to Regulation 18: Staffing of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Where an inspection involves the assessment of staff training, the CQC assesses the impact of training on the lives, outcomes and experiences of autistic people and people with a learning disability. The CQC also assesses whether people’s care, treatment and support promotes equality, removes barriers or delays and protects their rights under the Equity in experiences and outcomes quality statement, which is available at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-regulation/providers/assessment/single-assessment-framework/responsive/equity-experiences-outcomes

All assessments carried out through formal inspection activity are reported on and published on the CQC website.