Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Care Quality Commission concerning the process of timely onboarding of new clients and patients having access to services.

The Department has regular performance discussions with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). These discussions include, but are not limited to, the CQC’s ratings of general practices and the CQC’s registration process.

The CQC has experienced significant delays in registering providers and publishing updated ratings. Between 2023 and March 2024, the CQC rolled out a new IT system. The delays are partially the result of an increase in registration applications and failures in the CQC’s IT system. The CQC is undertaking rapid changes to increase the number of assessments, provide updated ratings, and speed up its registration process for timely onboarding of new providers, with 25,230 completed since April 2024. It has recently reported that the 500 assessments stuck in its IT system have now reduced to 301 and will gradually result in updated ratings.