To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward proposals for legislative provisions to strengthen the safeguarding of vulnerable adults and the regulation of those that work with them so as to establish parity between such provisions and those that apply in the field of child protection; and if he will make a statement. (222373)

The Government are committed to strengthening safeguarding for adults and is consulting on a range of ways of doing so. We are currently conducting a review of the No Secrets guidance, in light of the knowledge we have gained since it was introduced in 2000. We will consider the case for legislation as part of the review process.

We are working closely with other Government Departments on the review and will shortly be launching a public consultation exercise as part of it. We have already undertaken a listening exercise with key stakeholders to support the consultation process.

We want to enable adults to make informed decisions about how they live, how they are supported and what level of risk they are comfortable with. It is important that we do not assume that they automatically need the same type of protection as children.