SOCIAL services users in Oxfordshire have called for a public inquiry because they say the county council is failing in its duty to protect the old, frail and disabled.

Members of the Oxfordshire Community Care Advisory Group have today written to Health Secretary Frank Dobson, calling on him to set up an independent inquiry.

The demand comes 24 hours after a delegation from the county visited Westminster to plead for Government help.

People who need social services help say they are not being given the full facts by Oxfordshire County Council and doubt whether service chiefs realise the impact the proposed cuts will have.

Dr Larry Sanders, of Oxfordshire Carers' Forum, said: "We have written to Frank Dobson saying that we don't have confidence in the county council in terms of it providing services. We are calling for an independent investigation."

The social services department faces cuts of at least £5.7m in 1998/99, about seven per cent of its budget. Users are angry that a council department responsible for just a quarter of the county's spending is having to bear more than half the county's proposed overall cuts - with the possibility of more to come. Margaret Coombs, a community care rights worker, said: "Our argument is that the social services department can no longer meet its statutory requirements. Social services is the invisible service. These cuts are very bad news for those silent people out there who are just taking it on the chin."

Members of the advisory group, which represents organisations like the Carers' Forum, Oxfordshire Council of Disabled People, Age Concern and MIND, travelled to Westminster yesterday to meet county MPs Shaun Woodward, Andrew Smith, Dr Evan Harris and Michael Heseltine and the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev Richard Harries.

Mr Woodward said: "This is a critical time for Oxfordshire social services. As a Conservative I acknowledge that we got some things wrong in the last Government.

"Either this Labour government should give them more money as the people of Oxfordshire were led to believe, or reduce their responsibilities."

But Nick Welch, assistant director of social services, said the department spent more than the Government said it should. He also pointed out that a review of social services last year found that it served the county well.

"We understand extremely clearly what the consequences of the cuts are going to be and we have had as full a consultation as we could in the time given.

"The services the people of Oxfordshire are getting are good services and as far as possible we do our best by them."

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