I am informed by the chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) that it has a local inspection team based at Penrith, which is responsible for assessing residential and domiciliary care services for both adults and children in Cumbria. Inspectors assess services against the same standards, regardless of whether those services are provided by the county council or the private or voluntary sector.
In addition to this, there have been service inspections, which cover assessment and care management delivered by the social services authority—Cumbria county council—as well as direct care provision. Specific inspections of older peoples' services were carried out most recently earlier this year.
Until last year, social services in Cumbria were receiving monthly monitoring visits and additional support because of concerns over their performance. In the performance assessment published in December 2005, the council was awarded one star; up from zero stars the previous year. The 2005 judgments in relation to adults’, including older peoples’, services were that Cumbria were serving some adults well, with uncertain capacity to improve.
The budget available to CSCI’s Penrith office in 2006-07 totals £937,000. Of this, staffing costs are £872,000.