Here’s the question Tim Farron — in whose Cumbrian constituency Morecambe Bay NHS Trust falls — asked of Health secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday, after it was reported that senior staff at the NHS regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), sought to cover-up a critical review of their conduct following a series of baby deaths at Furness General Hospital:

Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD): My constituents can be forgiven for wondering whether, when the watchdog chooses to muzzle itself, it is time to put it to sleep. The report shows that the CQC discovered the truth about the deaths of babies at Furness General, but chose to suppress the truth, and to seek to subvert the Freedom of Information Act—and this morning I have asked the police to investigate that point.

Grieving families like the Titcombes deserve to know who made these decisions, so will the Secretary of State agree to ensure the removal of anonymity for those guilty of putting institutional convenience ahead of the lives of mothers and babies?

I completely agree with my right hon. Friend about backing those on the front line, but we have a culpable ex-chief executive of the trust on a £200,000 payout while the excellent nurses and doctors in the trust are struggling under immense pressure, so will he agree to work with me and all colleagues across Morecambe Bay to help the trust recover, which includes agreeing not to now demand that the trust make £25 million-worth of savings by March, as that would further threaten the pursuit of patient safety?

The anonymity he asked be removed was dropped today, with four staff named as being implicated in the alleged cover-up. Here’s the story just put up on Tim’s website welcoming the news that their names have been published, but that this is simply the first step in getting justice for the families seemingly let down by the system they trusted with their children’s lives:

South Lakes MP Tim Farron has welcomed the news that the Care Quality Commission has published the names of the officials at the centre of the cover up involving baby deaths in Cumbria.
The CQC revealed that Jill Finney was Mr G in the CQC report, the person who said “Are you kidding me? This can never be in the public domain nor subject to a FOI request.”Others mentioned in the report were the Chief Executive Cynthia Bower, former chair Dame Jo Williams, Louise Dinley the head of regulatory risk and PR person Anna Jefferson.
Yesterday Tim asked the Metropolitan Police for a police investigation into the cover-up, and he had also written to the information commissioner’s office asking for clarification about whether the regulator could publish the names of those involved. He said he wanted “a quick and clear message [to] help the CQC and save them thousands in trying to obtain a legal opinion”.
Tim said: “The first question we need answering is how many of these individuals are currently employed in the NHS or any associated organisations.
“As I said yesterday when the watchdog starts to muzzle itself, we have to ask ‘is it time to put the dog down’? The CQC has botched this and has yet again failed grieving families. I have asked the police to investigate this ‘cover up’ because I think potentially criminal activity could have been perpetrated.
“I want to thank health ministers Jeremy Hunt and Norman Lamb for their work on this – they have worked with me to make sure that this is transparent as possible and that the families know as much as possible. We now know that people in the highest parts of the CQC were working to hush this crisis up – I hope the Metropolitan Police will act quickly and that justice will be done.”