Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that charitable organisations providing (a) mental health, (b) learning disability and (c) autism services in receipt of public funds provide adequate levels of service during the covid-19 outbreak.

During the COVID-19 outbreak the Government provided over £10 million of additional funding to mental health, learning disability and autism charities to support adults and children. We have also provided local authorities with £3.7 billion for COVID-19 pressures, including social care services provided by charitable organisations. Where charitable organisations are in receipt of funding from the Government, robust governance and assurance processes are in place to manage the effective use of funding to achieve agreed outcomes.

Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for the planning and commissioning of healthcare services for their local population, which includes commissioning charitable organisations to provide services. However, they must be assured of the quality of services they commission, taking into account both National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines and the Care Quality Commission’s data about service providers. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning social care services and ensuring quality standards with providers.