Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to propose a statutory instrument obliging care homes to notify the Care Quality Commission when banning, restricting or evicting a relative or a resident.

Following the announcement of the General Election on 8 June, decisions on the future policy for adult social care will be taken by the new Government.

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 cover the fundamental standards, the standards below which care must never fall. These regulations also set out that care home providers should enable a resident to see their family and friends if the resident wants to. Failure to comply with some of the fundamental standards is an offence.

As part of the work across adult social care to develop a framework for improving the quality of adult social care, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are developing the information collected from care providers. The CQC has shared its intention to extend the information it can already request from providers to include information about restrictions of visiting rights.