§ 20. Mr. RoweTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the extent to which social worker qualifications will be recognised across the European Community after 1992.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyUnder the first EC directive on the mutual recognition of qualifications, social workers holding a qualification awarded on completion of at least three years higher education and training preparing them for the profession will be entitled to have their qualification recognised by any member state which requires such a qualification. They may in some circumstances be required to have professional experience or to undergo an adaptation period. A second directive covering qualifications awarded upon completion of courses of less than three years has been proposed and is currently under consideration in Brussels.