§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to improve the management and training of care and support workers following the King's Fund report 'Future Imperfect'; [20345]
(2) what action he intends to take to improve care and support services provision in accordance with the recent report of the King's Fund 'Future Imperfect'; [20347]
(3) if he will take steps to change the titles of care and support services staff to personal care assistants or community care workers; and if he will make a statement on the promotion of their role. [20348]
§ Jacqui Smith[holding answer 4 December 2001]: We welcome the publication of the King's Fund report "Future Imperfect" which contributes to the important debate about how to improve social services. We are already working with local councils and other agencies to raise standards across care. For example, on 9 October we published "Building Capacity and Partnership in Care" which encourages the development of a wide range of services to meet the diverse needs of communities.
As part of the National Training Strategy for Social Care in England, the National Training Organisation for Social Care (TOPSS) are working on the development of a comprehensive framework of national occupational standards for the social care workforce. These standards describe the tasks that a worker undertakes and determines their position in the career structure that is being developed with the qualifications framework. At present there are numerous different titles given to care and support services staff. However, by relating the work that they undertake to the relevant national occupational standards there will be a national understanding of the tasks that they are undertaking.
On 19 October 2001, we announced a £1.5 million recruitment campaign, which is designed to increase the number of people interested in careers in social work and social care work. As well as tackling recruitment problems, this campaign is designed to raise public awareness of the work that is undertaken by staff in the social care workforce.