Part 1 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Care Quality Commission) is amended as follows.
In section 48 (special reviews or investigations), omit subsection (7) (Secretary of State's power to make regulations as to procedure for representations before publication of report).
In section 54 (studies as to economy, efficiency etc), in subsections (1) and (3), omit ", with the approval of the Secretary of State,".
After subsection (2) of that section, insert—
In section 55 (publication of results of studies under section 54), omit subsection (2) (Secretary of State's power to make regulations as to procedure for representations before publication of report).
In section 57 (reviews of data, studies and research), in subsection (1), omit ", with the approval of the Secretary of State,".
In section 61 (inspections carried out for registration purposes), omit—
In section 83 (annual reports), omit subsection (3) (Secretary of State's power to direct preparation of separate reports).
In paragraph 5 of Schedule 4 (inspection programmes etc.), omit—
In consequence of subsections (3) and (6), omit section 293(3) and (4) of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.