Key social care bodies believe they will avoid DoH cull

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.