To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will request the Care Quality Commission to investigate the reasons for the hospital standardised mortality ratio in 2007-08 at hospitals in (a) Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, (b) Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (c) Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (d) Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (e) Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, (f) George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, (g) Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (h) Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, (i) Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, (j) James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (k) Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust, (l) Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (m) Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, (n) Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, (o) North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, (p) Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, (q) Royal Bolton Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, (r) Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (s) Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, (t) Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, (u) Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, (v) United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, (w) University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, (x) University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and (y) Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust.

From 1 April, national health service providers of regulated activities are required by law to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and assessed against a set of 16 safety and quality requirements. CQC has, therefore, recently scrutinised the registration applications of all NHS trusts in the country.

In December 2009, CQC conducted a regional review of all trusts identified as having high hospital standardised mortality ratios and considered this information as part of the registration process for every trust, alongside other data.

Where CQC does not have sufficient evidence of compliance with the requirements, it can impose conditions on the trust's registration, to force it to improve essential levels of quality and safety within timescales specified by CQC.

Once trusts are registered, CQC continues to look at their mortality rates and will continuously monitor compliance with the essential safety and quality requirements, as part of the new system of regulation.