Department of Health and Social Care written question – answered at on 20 July 2026.
Tan Dhesi
Chair, Defence Committee, Chair, Defence Committee
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of the Care Quality Commission's enforcement powers to ensure patient safety.
Preet Kaur Gill
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England, with a range of enforcement powers. The Department holds the CQC to account regularly for its overall performance and delivery of its regulatory functions.
Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, the CQC has civil and criminal enforcement powers enabling it to protect the public and hold registered providers and managers to account where fundamental standards are not met, or regulated activities are provided without CQC registration. Civil powers focus on reducing risks to people using services, while criminal powers enable the CQC to take action in response to serious failures. In some cases, the CQC may use both types of enforcement action.
Decisions on enforcement action are a matter for the CQC, exercised in line with its statutory remit and published enforcement policy.
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The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England and it is responsible for developing and consulting on its methodology for assessing whether providers are meeting the registration requirements.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
