The General Social Care Council, the new regulatory body for the social care workforce in England, has outlined its work to the Climbié Inquiry along with views on the issues raised in phase II of the Inquiry’s work.
The General Social Care Council was set up on 1 October 2001. It was established in England under the Care Standards Act 2000 to set codes of conduct and practice for social care workers and employers, to set up a register of social care workers and to regulate social work education and training. Similar bodies exist in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Rodney Brooke, Chair of the GSCC, said the Council had considered it important to provide evidence to the Inquiry about the new regulatory framework the GSCC brings.
Mr Brooke said: “Although we are at the beginning of our work, the introduction of the GSCC’s new codes of practice and the establishment, for the first time, of a register of all social care workers will be highly pertinent to this inquiry. Certainly the Inquiry has caused the public and the media to question the absence of any regulation until now, and underlined the importance of our work. Although the GSCC cannot say ‘we would have prevented this tragedy’, we believe that our work and the work of the other bodies established under the Care Standards Act will raise standards and increase protection for the people who use social care services.”
The statement from the GSCC was presented to the Inquiry’s second phase, which considered the recommendations they should make to the Secretary of State for Health and the Home Secretary to prevent a tragedy such as this in the future. The inquiry team has welcomed the idea of a paper from the GSCC on the issues raised by this case.
The GSCC statement sets out how its regulatory powers will contribute to raising standards. Although still in draft form and currently under development, the GSCC’s codes of conduct and practice for social care workers and employers will provide a framework to guide the work of all those involved in social care. The codes are in the process of being revised following a three month consultation process. It is intended to publish them in the Summer of 2002.
The GSCC is also developing the rules and procedures that will underpin the registration of social care workers. The register will open in Spring 2003 and the GSCC will start the process of initial registration from that date. It will take some years for the register to be complete. The first category of people to be registered will be qualified social workers. Other priority groups will be staff working with children and managers of care homes.
Lorna Shearman 020 7397 5830