Dr Judy Laing has recently been awarded a small research grant by the British Academy to conduct research into the role of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in monitoring the Mental Health Act and overseeing standards of mental health care. The study will involve conducting interviews with Mental Health Act Commissioners who regularly visit detained patients and investigate standards of mental health care. Judy is hoping to complete the research during a period of research leave next year and will disseminate the research findings thereafter. This study is important as there has been recent mental heath legislative reform and very little has been published to date on the important role and work of the Commissioners. The research is also timely given the recent Arms-length Bodies Review, which has been carried out by the government, and the recommendation that some of the functions of other specialist regulatory bodies, such as the Human Tissue Authority and the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, should also be subsumed within the CQC.