HC Deb 27 March 1998 vol 309 cc352-4W
Mr. Gareth Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what arrangements he plans to make following the recent review of the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work, for the regulation and training of the social services workforce in Wales. [37188]

Mr. Win Griffiths

The publication of a fundamental review of the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work (CCETSW) was announced in the House on 22 December 1997,Official Report, column 553. Since then, I have been giving careful thought to the best arrangements for regulating the social services workforce in Wales, consistent with the Government's plans to establish the National Assembly for Wales. I have taken into account, too, the announcement that there is to be separate regulatory machinery for Scotland.

I have concluded that there should be a separate body for the regulation of the social services workforce in Wales. However, the Welsh body must have the closest possible alignment with similar machinery in the other countries of the UK, and officials will be working to ensure that effective links of this kind are put into place.

We also need to have coherent overall arrangements for developing and enforcing high standards of conduct and practice, and for ensuring that workforce and training strategies are directed towards the same standards.

I have, therefore, asked officials to explore how we can best bring together the work of the regulatory body and the work in Wales of any future National Training Organisation for the personal social services.

Children and adults who use the social services in Wales should be able to rely on a workforce that is properly trained, appropriately qualified and effectively regulated. We will be bringing forward more detailed legislative proposals for the new regulatory body in the social services White Paper already promised. I have asked the Chief Inspector of the Social Services Inspectorate for Wales to pave the way for this by starting discussions with key stakeholders within the next few days.