SCIE will not join merger of DoH programmes

Plans to transfer seven government programmes to the Social Care
Institute of Excellence have been scrapped because ministers’
desire to retain control of them was deemed incompatible with
SCIE’s independence, writes Mithran
Samuel
.

The programmes, which include the National Institute for Mental
Health in England and the Valuing People Support Team, will still
be merged, but separately from SCIE.

The key sticking point was that SCIE’s insistence on
protecting its independence was incompatible with the Department of
Health’s wish to retain some control over the programmes.

The decision raises question marks about the status of social
care within the DoH, as health minister Stephen Ladyman had
portrayed the plan as a way of raising the standing of the
sector.

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