§ Mr. Watkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the present number of persons employed in social services departments in local authorities; what is the number of social workers employed in field work; and to what extent there is a shortage of field workers.
§ Mr. Alec JonesAt 30th September 1973, the latest date for which figures are available, there were 151,100 staff, in whole-time equivalents, employed in local authority social services departments in
246Wsupplement payable in cases where the aggregate of the supplement and flat-rate benefit would otherwise exceed 85 per cent. of the claimant's average weekly reckonable earnings in the relevant income tax year. The estimates given below show the position on a date in or around May each year. Statistics are not collected in a form from which the total number affected in the course of a year could be determined.
England. At the same date there were some 12,000 social work staff, in whole-time equivalents, employed in the field and a further 1,500 seconded for training, against a total establishment at that time, including those seconded for training, of approximately 15,000—a shortage of 1,500, or 10 per cent.