Memorandum submitted by CSCI (H&SC 21 - iii)

 

CSCI RESPONDS TO GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCEMENT ON FUTURE REGULATION OF HEALTH AND ADULT SOCIAL CARE

 

 

The Chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, Dame Denise Platt DBE, today responded to the publication of the Government's formal response to its earlier consultation on the future regulation of health and adult social care.

 

Dame Denise said:

 

"We broadly welcome the policy direction set out by the Government today. The document confirms the key functions proposed in the consultation paper for the new health and adult social care regulator. It will therefore be able to build on the success of CSCI in looking across the whole of the adult social care sector, from the important commissioning work carried out by local councils to the quality and safety of care services on the ground. In doing so we look to the Care Quality Commission to continue our work, recently described in our Annual Report, to involve people who use social care services and to put them at the centre of everything it does. We are particularly pleased to see that, as we have called for, the regulator will be able to draw on a wider range of enforcement powers."

 

Dame Denise continued:

 

"Whilst we now know the new regulator's overall role and functions, there is a great deal of detail still to be filled in about the way it will work, and particularly about how the Department's new health and adult social care registration requirements (the new standards) will look. This is vital information for everyone who receives or works in social care and we look forward to playing a major and constructive role in shaping those standards, on which further consultation is promised later this year. In particular, we remain committed to ensuring that any future regulatory standards really reflect what matters to people using services and moves away from the current very detailed requirements."

 

Dame Denise concluded:

 

"We plan to continue our previous dialogue on these issues with Ministers and officials. I was delighted that the Secretary of State told the national social services conference last week that he was determined to ensure that social care's distinct needs would be recognised by the new regulator."

 

January 2008