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Health and Social Care Committee Chair Comment

15 January 2025

The Health and Social Care Committee this morning held an evidence session with the Chair of the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Ian Dilks, and its Chief Executive, Sir Julian Hartley. 

The session saw MPs question the senior leadership of the organisation on the issues raised by Dr Penny Dash in her review of the CQC. 

In October, the Dash review into the CQC identified major shortfalls in the organisation, saying there was an ‘urgent need for a rapid turnaround of CQC’ and that it ‘has lost credibility in the health and social care sectors’.  

Chair quote

Speaking after the session, the Chair of the Committee, Layla Moran MP, said: 

“We were shocked to hear how bad things have got at the CQC and it was incomprehensible to hear the Chair of the organisation tell us that he did not have regular meetings with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, under the last two governments.

“The CQC told us that the organisation currently has a backlog of around 5,000 notifications of concerns, which include ‘major issues of concern’ from staff and members of the public. It is not acceptable that concerns being flagged to the regulator are going months without a response.

“We impress upon the CQC that it must work at pace to address the shortfalls identified in the Dash review. We will be closely following what work the regulator does to remediate its current state and restore its credibility.”

Further information

Image: House of Commons / Kate Noble