Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the arrangements in place to follow up and where necessary to enforce inspections made by the Care Quality Commission; and if he will make a statement. [125985]

Norman Lamb, Minister of State, Department of Health: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England and. it is responsible for assessing whether providers are meeting registration requirements. The CQC may use unannounced inspection visits in coming to their judgments. The timing of re-inspections may be based on the level of risk to people identified by previous work.

The CQC has a wide range of enforcement powers it can use. Failure to comply with these registration requirements is an offence and the CQC is able to take independent statutory enforcement action, including, issuing a warning notice; imposing, varying and removing conditions of registration; issuing a monetary penalty notice for prescribed offences; prosecuting for offences; suspending registration; and cancelling registration.

The Department undertook a Performance and Capability Review of the CQC to provide robust assurance to the public, the Department and Parliament that CQC is improving its performance and that action will be taken to build and sustain its capability for the future. The report was published on 23 February 2012 and made a number of recommendations around the development and delivery of the regulatory model. The CQC has welcomed the findings of the Performance and Capability Review and has published its formal response and action plan. A copy of “CQC Performance and Capability Review—Response and Action Plan” has already been placed in the Library.

| Hansard