HC Deb 14 February 1968 vol 758 cc377-9W
Mrs. Ewing

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the qualifications of a child care officer; and how officers of my Department was made on the occasion of a review of merchant navy pay in 1967. In the light of a report by the N.B.P.I. on proposals by the N.M.B. for salary increases for merchant navy officers it was evident that the pay of my Department's marine officers had fallen seriously out of line with the general level of pay in the merchant navy. The claim was referred to the Civil Service Arbitration Tribunal who awarded the scales given below, with effect from 3rd July, 1967, when revised National Maritime Board rates for the merchant navy became effective.

many are presently in training in Scotland.

Mr. Ross:

The professional qualification for a child care officer is the Letter of Recognition of the Central Training Council in Child Care. There are at present 30 child care students in Scotland attending full-time courses leading to this qualification. There are also six child care officers who already hold a professional qualification in social work and are taking a part-time course which will qualify them in addition for the Letter of Recognition.

Mrs. Ewing

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the average case load of a child care officer.

Mr. Ross:

It is not possible to state the average case load with precision because of the difficulty of assessing the extent to which senior grades take part in case work but, at 30th November, 1966, the average number of children in care or under supervision was about 65 per child care officer: each child care officer would be responsible in addition for preventive work with up to 20 families.

Mrs. Ewing

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the shortage on establishment of the child care officers in Scotland, broken down into counties; and how many unfilled vacancies there are at present.

Mr. Ross:

Detailed information for individual authorities at one date is not readily available, but such information as I have suggests that the overall number of unfilled vacancies at the beginning of this year was about 20 to 30.