§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what strategies his Department has in place to reduce the number of temporary staff working in the social services sector. [47624]
§ Jacqui SmithMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State launched a £1.5 million social work recruitment campaign on 19 October 2001. The campaign consists of national advertising, information leaflets, posters, local and national public relations activity, a help line which those interested in learning more about social work can contact for further information, and a dedicated website. It has three aims, to
raise the number of people applying for social work training by 5000 by 2004;inform the public about what social workers actually do;make existing social workers realise that their work is valued.As the aim of the campaign is to attract more people to work in social care, this should in the long term reduce vacancy rates and therefore the use of agency staff to cover vacancies.
The help line has so far received over 14,000 calls, and the website has had over 11,000 visitors. The second phase of the campaign will be launched in May.