§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when the General Social Care Council will publish the time-scales for registering each category of social care worker; [1177]
(2) pursuant to his answer of 25 June 2001, Official Report,column 24W, on the General Social Care Council, if he will list each category of social care worker it is planned to register and how many (a) there are in total in each category and (b) are qualified; [1262]
(3) pursuant to his answer of 25 June 2001, Official Report,column 24W, on the General Social Care Council, if he will set out his reasons for not requiring the General Social Care Council to develop an interim register that covers all unqualified social care workers. [1261]
§ Jacqui SmithThe General Social Care Council will begin its work in October 2001. It is our intention to ask the Council to register qualified social workers first, beginning in 2002–03, followed by residential childcare workers and managers of care homes.
The council will specify any levels of training expected of registrants other than social workers. It will need to consider the priorities for registration and the likely overall timetable.
Registration of the work force is only one strand in our plans to raise standards social care and improving public protection. The GSCC will be publishing codes of practice for social care workers and their employers. Compliance with the code is required of all staff and employers whether registered with the council or not. Compliance with the codes will be a first step towards achieving registration
There are an estimated one million people working in social care and 80 per cent. of them are thought not to have any qualifications. 60 per cent. of the work force are in the independent sector working for around 25,000 employers, many of whom are very small. We do not hold information about the numbers in any particular group.