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 potential implications for his policies of the Care Quality Commission’s finding that disabled people were less likely than non-disabled people to describe the care and support received for health and wellbeing over the last six months as good.

This specific assessment has not been made.

We welcome the publication of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) annual statutory report on the state of health care and adult social care in England on 21 October 2022. We encourage integrated care systems to consider CQC’s findings when developing their own understanding of how they are meeting the needs of their local populations and planning service provision.

We are focused on ensuring all patients, including disabled people, receive high-quality care and support for their health and wellbeing. Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged when they access support and services.