I’ve backed an Early Day Motion that calls for people living in residential care homes to be given the right to place CCTV cameras in their rooms.

Disgracefully, neglect and abuse of residents does take place in the care sector. People living in care homes are some of the most vulnerable members of society and need to be protected. They should have a right to CCTV in their room if they so choose.

In 2014, the Care Quality Commission received 37,060 reported allegations of abuse, compared with 67,590 in 2018 – an increase of 82 per cent. The total number of allegations for the four-year period was 251,679.

Across England, nearly 3,000 of the country’s 14,975 care homes are currently rated either inadequate or needing improvement.

The EDM argues that giving residents the right to place CCTV in their rooms “at their own expense” would “provide greater protection to residents, give family members additional peace of mind, raise standards and foster greater accountability.”

In December’s Queen’s Speech, the Conservative government pledged to reform social care but its long-awaited green paper on social care, promised since 2017, is yet to be published.

It was the need for real change in the social care sector that led me to set up the All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Care. It now falls on the government to take this important step to protect care home residents.