§ Mr. ThurnhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received on the adequacy of the NVQ qualifications for carers; what priority his Department accords to the training of carers; and if he will make a statement. [34945]
§ Mr. BowisA number of representations have been received on this subject.
The Government place a high priority on the training of carers. The personal social services training strategy for England seeks to improve the training of the existing PSS work force at professional and vocational levels. This Department is supporting the updated set of lifetime learning targets to achieve specified national vocational qualification—NVQ—targets by 2000 by targeting part of the training support programme on the achievement of NVQs in care. In addition, the document "Building Partnerships for Success", published in September last year, identifies staff training and development as part of the essential foundation for the development of community care. For the future we propose to increase the proportion of staff with appropriate qualifications by extending opportunities to acquire NVQs.