Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage the recruitment of graduates into the social work sector.

Edward Timpson

Social workers perform some of the hardest roles in society and that is why it is already a graduate profession. Government is continuing to invest in social work education and training, including through the highly successful Step Up to Social Work and Frontline programmes, both of which aim to bring high calibre graduates into child and family social work, and Think Ahead, which offers a new route for graduates and career-changers into adult mental health social work.

Improving the quality and status of child and family ‎social work is a high priority. Higher standards, including through the introduction of a national system of assessment and accreditation will help provide greater assurance that social workers have the necessary knowledge and skills for the demanding work they do. The Government does not, however, have any specific plans to increase public awareness of the role of social workers.

Government does not collect data on the number of cases held by social workers on a weekly basis. The department expects to publish caseload information, for the first time, relating to the year ending 30 September 2016, in February 2017.