§ 46. Mrs. Nicholasked the Prime Minister what steps are being taken to implement the Interim Report of the Care of Children Committee on Training in Child Care, which was presented last March.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonAs soon as the Interim Report was received, Inter-Departmental consultations took place and a plan was worked out to meet the recommendation of the Curtis Committee for a Central Training Council to promote basic training in child care for house mothers. This plan has required reconsideration in the light of the recommendation in the final Report that the functions of the training council should be extended to cover more advanced training for other classes of persons who are concerned with the care of homeless children. There will be no delay in preparing and giving effect to this revised plan, but while a long-term plan for the training of staff will no doubt be advantageous, it will not meet the immediate difficulty caused by the acute shortage of staff in children's homes. When an attempt was made last summer to start, in accordance with the suggestion in the Interim Report, a course of training for senior staff, it was found that the homes were unable to spare any members of their staff for the purpose.