Incoming CQC Chair Faces MPs on How She Will Turn Troubled Regulator Around
The government’s preferred candidate to become Chair of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will face questions on her suitability for the role by MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee.
Crossbench peer Baroness Julia Neuberger will be asked how she would help the CQC, which regulates and inspects front line health and social care services, regain credibility and trust among patients and professionals. One of her first tasks as Chair would be to oversee recruitment of a new Chief Executive.
Pre-appointment hearings are held by select committees for certain public appointments before the appointment is formally made. They are usually followed by a report that either endorses or raises concerns about the appointment. Committees do not have the authority to stop a candidate from being offered a post by the Secretary of State.
This session comes after years of scrutiny of the CQC for serious failings. Two reviews into the regulator in 2024 by Dr Penny Dash and Sir Mike Richards found a track record of producing poor quality reports and delays in producing them, as well as poor application of its Single Assessment Framework for carrying out inspections and a loss of expertise due to restructuring.
In early 2025 the CQC agreed to provide the Committee with quarterly updates on its progress with tackling a backlog of hundreds of reports and other performance indicators. The first update was provided in May that year.
Baroness Neuberger currently serves as Chair of Whittington Health NHS Trust, Joint Chair of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and as Rabbi Emerita at West London Synagogue.
She has previously been CEO of the King’s Fund and Chair of the Camden and Islington Community NHS Trust.
The role of CQC would entail working two to three days a week with a salary of £63,000.
The Baroness would take over from Kay Boycott, a CQC non-executive director who has served as interim Chair since June. Boycott’s appointment came after Sir Mike Richards announced he would step down in February. Sir Mike became Chair less than a year earlier, having led one of the reviews into problems facing the organisation.
