§ Rev. Martin Smythasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the number of social workers qualified to work with the deaf and arrangements for training them; what discussions has he had with the relevant professional bodies: and what advice his Department is giving in this area.
§ Mr. ScottInformation on the number of social workers qualified to work with deaf people is not collected centrally. We are, however, aware of the difficulties in this area, and officials from the Department have held meetings with the professional and other bodies concerned. Training of social workers is primarily the responsibility of the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work which has recently agreed in principle proposals to develop a distance learning package in this specialism.