§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health which statements he has made concerning social services 1113W where service developments and extra spending are to be met from the 6 per cent. real terms increase in the personal social services spending. [100672]
§ Jacqui SmithMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made a number of general statements referring to service improvements that should be possible with the 6 per cent. annual average real terms increase for personal social services for each of the next three years, 2003–04 to 2005–06. It is of course for local councils to decide on their relative spending priorities taking account of local needs and priorities.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received from overseas governments regarding the recruitment of social workers. [100143]
§ Jacqui SmithThe Department has not received representations from overseas governments regarding the recruitment of social workers. Local authorities are responsible for managing their own recruitment policies and practices, whether recruiting in this country or from overseas.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with local authority leaders regarding the recruitment of social workers(a) in general and (b) from abroad. [100489]
§ Jacqui SmithThe Department is working closely with local authorities to reduce vacancies across the social care workforce and has committed funding of £1.5 million to the national social work recruitment campaign, which aims to increase the number of applications to social work. We have worked closely with key stakeholders to develop a resource pack to provide material which can be used by authorities for their own recruitment initiatives. Local authorities are responsible for managing their own recruitment from abroad.
Mr. Gareth ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to provide opportunities for home care workers and health care assistants to train to become(a) social workers and (b) nurses; and if he will make a statement. [100588]
§ Jacqui SmithAt the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) conference in October 2000, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, announced funding for a three year student support scheme for those studying for first level professional social work qualifications.
The funds for this scheme were put into a ring-fenced sub-programme of the training support programme (TSP) grant and local councils have been invited to apply for funds to support both their own experienced care staff and those staff of voluntary and private organisations that are contracted to provide social services, who wished to undertake the Diploma in Social Work (DipSW). For the coming year these funds may also be used to support staff who wish to undertake programmes for the new social work degree, which commences in September 2003.
The funds available in this TSP sub-programme are shown in the table.
1114W
Year Amount (£ million) 2001–02 3 2002–03 13 2003–04 13 A new social care training grant, the national training strategy grant, starts in April 2003. The conditions surrounding the use of this grant will be out for consultation by the end of March. There is £6 million ring-fenced within this new grant for a trainee social worker scheme which is to be used to support social care workers who wish to undertake either the DipSW or the new social work degree. Although this grant is to be paid to local councils, it has been suggested that 50 per cent. of the amount that is allocated to each local council is offered to those voluntary and private organisations that are contracted to councils to provide services. This will include organisations providing home care.
Health care assistants have been able to prepare for nurse training through a cadet scheme or by undertaking a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) at level 3. The Department is taking forward a number of steps to support and facilitate the expansion and coverage of cadet schemes. We are also nearing the end of the second year of an ongoing major investment programme, –60 million in 2002–03, to enable health staff without work related professional qualifications access a national health service learning account or dedicated NVQ training. Between April 2001 and September 2002, over 21,000 undertook NVQ training to levels 2 or 3.
Additionally, we are aiming to increase health care assistant secondments to nurse training from 15 per cent. of the overall national training population in 2003–04 to 24 per cent. of the population in 2005–06. This approach to nurse training has proved to be very popular and there are now some 2,300 new health care assistants and other NHS employees supported each year under the initiative.
Mr. Gareth ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the level of vacancies is for social workers in(a) elderly care, (b) children care and (c) mental health in (i) London, broken down by borough and (ii) England. [100589]
§ Jacqui SmithWe do not hold information centrally on social worker vacancies in each local authority or London borough. A survey undertaken by the Employers Organisation found that across all local authority social services in England as at 30 September 2001, around 10 per cent. of all field social worker posts were vacant.