Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many prosecutions have been brought by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) since 2009 regarding the unsafe or inadequate care of people with a learning disability; and what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the CQC’s enforcement strategy for learning disabilities in this regard.

Since 2009, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has brought 124 criminal prosecutions to date. 111 of these prosecutions have been brought since April 2015, when the CQC was given statutory criminal enforcement powers under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Following a review of their data, the CQC can confirm that of these 111 criminal prosecutions, 12 cases have related to the care and treatment of people with a learning disability, and this could have been where the person receiving the care and treatment was a person with a learning disability or where the provider specialised in the care and treatment for people with a learning disability.

All 12 prosecutions relate to breaches of Regulations 12 and 22 of the 2014 Regulations for failure to provide safe care and treatment causing or exposing a service user to avoidable harm. The CQC also criminally enforced a further case regarding a Regulation 11 breach, for failure to obtain appropriate consent. The CQC issued two Fixed Penalty Notices, which is an alternative criminal sanction at the CQC’s disposal.