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Health and Social Care Bill

moved Amendment No. 91A: 91A: Clause 45, page 22, line 24, at end insert— ““( ) After conducting a periodic review of regulated activities by regulated social care providers, the Commission must award and publish a performance rating.”” The noble Baroness said: This is a probing amendment designed to elicit from the Government their view about the continued publication of performance ratings. It is often extraordinarily difficult for consumers of social care to find information about the quality of the care that they seek. The publication of star ratings has been of some benefit. Albeit that they are crude and limited in some cases, the general public and consumers of social care have found them helpful. Paragraph 205 of the explanatory notes states that it is envisaged that in some cases the evaluation might be in the form of a comparative rating such as a star rating. That is somewhat at odds with the statement in paragraph 1.17 of the consultation document, which states: "““The Care Quality Commission will carry out periodic reviews that will build on the good work of the current commissions in developing …Quality””—" star ““Ratings of care homes””. That is confusing, and I move this amendment so that the Minister can tell us the Government’s intentions. I beg to move.