§ Lord Northbourneasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they accept the finding of the joint inspectorate review published by Ofsted (October 2002) that staff shortages in key social services, including schools and social services departments, are in some local authorities a problem seriously affecting the quality of the service they offer; and, if so, what action is being taken to remedy these staff shortages. [HL68]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baronesss Ashton of Upholland)The joint chief inspectors' reportSafeguarding Children, published on 14 October 2002, contains a recommendation that the Department of Health, Home Office, Department for Education and Skills, and the Lord Chancellor's Department should support and facilitate national and local agencies to recruit and retain sufficient levels of appropriately qualified staff, paying particular regard to the image, status, morale, remuneration and working conditions of specialist child protection staff.
The Government have welcomed the publication of this report. They recognise that there is still more to be done to ensure that the highest standards of child protection are applied in every case. That is why they commissioned the joint chief inspectors' report. It is also why the Secretary of State for Health and the Home Secretary set up the statutory inquiry, chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Laming, into the circumstances leading up to, and surrounding, the death of Victoria Climbié. The recommendations of the joint chief inspectors' report and those of the Victoria Climbié inquiry will provide the Government with an authoritative basis for any reforms to child protection that may need to be made, and if reform is necessary the Government will implement it.
The Government have introduced initiatives designed to improve recruitment and retention in these key areas.
All our policies that affect teachers aim not only to encourage new graduates into the profession, but also to ensure that teachers already within it stay. The Chancellor announced in the recent spending review that more money than ever is going direct to schools to enable heads to manage and staff their schools more effectively. There is also funding for Recruitment Strategy Managers, who are currently working in over 100 LEAs across the country helping to provide a coordinated local approach to vacancy-filling, with three specialist advisers dedicated to helping schools in challenging circumstances.
Similarly, the national social work recruitment campaign was launched in October 2001 by the Secretary of State for Health. This includes both national and local press and radio advertising and particular efforts are being made in London and the South East where retention and recruitment of social workers is a particular problem. The third phase of the recruitment campaign was launched on 24 October 63WA 2002 with the aim of raising by 5,000 the number of people applying for social work training by 2004. Since the start of the campaign, applications have seen the first increase since 1995 and provisional figures suggest a year on year increase in applicants of 8.3 per cent.