What would be achieved by replacing services closely attuned to local populations and accountable through local elected representatives with a monumental distant arrangement? The thought of a child protection system, so dependent upon working relationships and trust, run on a national scale was truly alarming.
However, this was not what she meant. While I would take issue with her assertion that we have 152 different social care systems, does she have a point? Is there too much variation and if so, how do you fix the problem?
The idea that you should put things on a national footing to create consistency and give strong leadership is seductive and keeps popping up: the fact that we have a national health service is often quoted in support. The minute you scratch the surface of the NHS analogy, you uncover the key problem: delivering nationally needs good local connections, and this is difficult to get right.
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