Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that vision rehabilitation services are subject to the same (a) regulation and (b) monitoring as other adult social care services.

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities in England have a legal duty to support people with sight loss to develop practical skills and strategies to maintain independence.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is now assessing how local authorities are meeting the full range of their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. These assessments identify local authorities’ strengths and areas for development, facilitating the sharing of good practice and helping us to target support where it is most needed. This will also facilitate the development of national standards as part of our steps towards creating a National Care Service.

Therefore, although CQC is not currently required to assess vision rehabilitation services as regulated activities under Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, sensory services, including vision rehabilitation, do form part of CQC’s overall assessment of local authorities’ delivery of adult social care. In that context, CQC will report on sensory services when there is something important to highlight, for example, something being done well, innovative practice or an area for improvement.

Our new Client Level Data collection requires local authorities to collect person-level information covering most of their activity under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. Information on visual impairments is voluntary at this stage, but this will be kept under review.