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The General Social Care Council and Commission for Social Care Inspection believe they unlikely be affected by a halving of arms-length public bodies announced by the Department of Health, writes Derren Hayes.  

Both CSCI and the GSCC are included in a list of 42 ALPBs identified by health secretary John Reid to be included in a review of their roles. He aims to save £500 million by cutting the number funded by the NHS by 50 per cent and reducing staff numbers by a quarter by 2007/08.

It follows an earlier review of ALPBs which concluded there are too many overlapping and duplicating functions; unnecessary regulatory and policy activities; back office functions such as human resources, finance, IT and estates could be rationalised; and many bodies could be merged.

The savings will be channelled into front line services, Reid said.

GSCC chief executive Lynne Berry said she expected its “vital” work to continue.


CSCI chair Denise Platt, said it was at the forefront of the process having brought together the work of the three predecessor organisations.

“The social care sector joins up with many different services such as the NHS, education and the criminal justice system. This is a tremendously important role where the frontline services need to be properly supported by arms-length bodies such as ourselves,” she added.