Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to ensure future data returns by local authorities to the Health and Social Care Information Centre are designed to help evaluate local authorities' performance under the Care Act 2014.

To help understand the needs of local authorities and support them and their partners in delivering the Care Act, together with local government we are have agreed approaches to:

- implementation assurance: to monitor progress with preparations for delivery, including the required actions of all organisations across the whole programme;

- implementation support: identifying requirements for support with implementation, including specific support materials and more bespoke advice and consultancy; and

- benefits realisation and evaluation: to track that changes to the care and support system are being embedding into practice and delivering what was intended.

National stocktake surveys led by the Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Adult Social Service provide an overview of readiness, delivery confidence and key issues, supported by follow-up discussions and analysis to validate results.

The Department has also agreed with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association a process for the ongoing monitoring of specified demand data in all local authorities from 1 April 2015, based on the areas of most significant risk as identified by local authorities.

Over the past year, the national statutory local authority data returns collected by the Health and Social Care Information Centre have all been assessed to ensure that they collect the information required on the Care Act. Consultations were carried out during Summer 2014 and subsequent amendments were disseminated to local authorities for the collections from 1 April 2015 onwards.