§ 34. Mr. Simsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps she has taken to ensure that social workers receive training and experience in specialist fields of their work.
§ Mr. MeacherThe statutory responsibility for promoting social work training rests with the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work but I166W understand that, within basic qualifying courses, different emphases are developing which give opportunities for study of certain fields of work in greater depth. My Department is making available a measure of central financial support for the post-qualifying studies which the Central Council is promoting and which aim to build on the base provided by qualifying courses so as to maintain and improve the standard of professional practice. Recommendations on the development of specialist post-qualifying training for the personal social services may be expected from the forthcoming report of the Working Party on Manpower and Training for the Social Services, which was established jointly by Ministers, the local authority associations and the Central Council to consider the need for trained manpower in the personal social services in the light of the present state and prospective development of those services, and of the resources which may be made available.