Care Quality Inspectorate for Social Services and Child Protection

This is the name of a new agency, established by a decision of the Minister of Social Affairs and Equality, which commenced work in May 2018. Initially the Inspectorate will be responsible for administrative tasks and monitoring of social services provided by local authorities, by public bodies or on a contract basis, as well as supervision of specific aspects of child protection.

Social services provided by local authorities include various services for children, families, disabled persons, seniors and immigrants. The agency's supervision of child protection is limited to residential facilities for children in care, which were previously the responsibility of the Ministry’s Department of Social Affairs. Whether other supervisory and administrative tasks in the area of child welfare will be transferred to the Inspectorate will be determined by the proposed revision of the Child Protection Act.

The objective of establishing a special agency for the above-mentioned projects is to strengthen the organisation of comprehensive services by the state and local authorities, making a clear distinction between administration and supervision, on the one hand, and provision of services, on the other. This is similar to the structure in healthcare, where the Directorate of Health is responsible for supervision and certain administrative tasks.