Commentary on Sections Part 2 –Standards Provision of social services Section 80: Other reviews and investigations
198.Section 80 provides for the CSCI to review or investigate the provision by local authorities in England of social services in circumstances other than when the CSCI is conducting an annual review. Under this function the CSCI may, in particular, undertake a review of the social services provided by local authorities across the whole of England (subsection 2(a)), a review of one or more social services across the country, in a particular area or by a particular type of local authority (for example the provision of child protection services by local authorities in large cities) (subsection 2(b)), or the services (or any of them) provided by an individual local authority (subsection 2(c)). Subsection (3) provides that the CSCI must, where requested to do so by the Secretary of State, carry out a review of the local authority social services specified in the Secretary of State’s request.