Section one Context not publish the 2015 inspection report prior to the 2016 reinspection, and to not follow its own internal investigation, were wrong. The review made seven recommendations around processes for CQC inspections, quality assurance, legal policies and internal whistleblowing.27 The second independent review commissioned by CQC, by Professor Glynis Murphy, was published in March 2020. It considered CQC’s regulation of Whorlton Hall between 2015 and 2019. The review identified several reasons why CQC did not detect the abusive behaviour of staff and found that while CQC followed its procedures over this period, several improvements are needed to strengthen its approach to inspection and regulation. These include changes to inspection methodology, more unannounced and evening inspections, swifter publication of reports, improved response to abuse allegations and whistleblowing and a more flexible inspection approach where intelligence indicates there is a risk.28 In response, CQC has set up a dedicated team responsible for incorporating these recommendations into CQC policy. This team includes external stakeholders as well as people who use CQC services and their families. Also responding to the Whorlton Hall documentary and wider public concern, the Joint Committee on Human Rights ( JCHR) undertook an inquiry into the 27 28 29 30 detention of young people with a learning disability and autistic people, published on 1 November 2019. The Committee called for changes to the Mental Health Act 1983 to protect those detained from the ‘horrific reality’ found in some mental health hospitals. The Committee described the ‘grim’ and predictable pathway to inappropriate detention in potentially ‘brutal’ circumstances for children and young people. It also recommended substantive reforms to CQC’s inspection methodology.29 The government’s response to the JCHR reports on the detention of young people with a learning disability and autistic people and the implications of the government’s COVID-19 response (from 12 June 2020) was published on 22 October 2020.30 In February 2020, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) sent a pre-action protocol letter for judicial review against the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care over the repeated failure to move people with a learning disability and autistic people into appropriate accommodation. EHRC voiced concerns about the rights of more than 2,000 people with a learning disability and autistic people being detained in secure hospitals, often far away from home and for many years. The pre-action letter argued that the department has breached the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) for failing to meet the targets set in the Transforming Care programme and the Building the Right Support programme. CQC, January 2020, News: CQC publishes independent review into its regulation of Whorlton Hall, https://www.cqc.org.uk/ news/stories/cqc-publishes-independent-review-its-regulation-whorlton-hall [accessed 24/08/2020] CQC, March 2020, Press release: CQC publishes independent review into its regulation of Whorlton Hall between 2015 and 2019, https://cqc.org.uk/news/stories/cqc-publishes-independent-review-its-regulation-whorlton-hall-between-2015-2019 [accessed 24/08/2020] Joint Committee on Human Rights, November 2019, News: Human rights of many people with a learning disability and/or autism are being breached in mental health hospitals, available: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/93/humanrights-joint-committee/news/91540/human-rights-of-many-people-with-a-learning-disability-andor-autism-are-beingbreached-in-mental-health-hospitals/ [accessed 24/08/2020] UK Government, October 2020, The Government Response to the Joint Committee on Human Rights reports on the Detention of Young People with Learning Disabilities and/or Autism and the implications of the Government’s COVID-19 response, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/928520/ Final_Web_accessible_Government_Response_to_the_JCHR_reports_on_the_Detention_of_Young_People_with_LDA.pdf [accessed 01/12/2020] 17