Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I have had to say in other committees in the past that I do not agree that we should be the regulator for private residential care, because we also provide it. It is one of the greatest possible contradictions of governance. To be fair to the relevant Departments, they are trying to resolve it. We are the provider of public residential care, the funder of all residential care, the overseer of the placement of children in all residential care, the commissioner of private residential care, and the regulator and inspection and registration service for private services. It is a fundamental contradiction and it is problematic. That said, our inspection and monitoring team does the job very well and ensures the safety of children in those contexts.