News

David Behan

The chief executive of the Commission for Social Care Inspection told a packed audience at the National Social Services Conference to expect "a radical modernisation of the regulatory system" in the near future, writes Ruth Winchester in Newcastle.

David Behan said: "The current regulatory and inspection framework doesn’t deliver a whole picture of how people experience social care. This seriously limits how well we can make vital judgements about services, outcomes and improvement."

"People want regulation which is based on frequent inspections, unannounced visits and inspectors spending more time talking to people."

"In the past service inspections have, in the main, been by single inspectorates. So they were unable to provide judgements across all the services that an individual uses and did not add up to a fully coordinated and appropriate approach for local councils. We have reduced the anomaly of service inspection from 165 inspections in 2002 to 75 this year. From next year all our service inspection activity will be joint with other inspectorates."

"We will start consulting next month on proposals for further changes from April. We want to see a more proportionate approach to inspection, improved ways of reporting and a more efficient approach to the way we work."

In response to a question on the future shape of inspections of childrens social care and education, Behan told delegates: "There will still be two separate judgements next year. "But the journey we are on will result in them being brought together."