Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
The Minister for Care (Helen Whately)
It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. It is also a great pleasure to reflect on World Social Work Day, which was on Tuesday, and to celebrate the vital role of social workers within our communities and our health and care services across the country. I would also like to thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (David Simmonds) for securing this debate on such an important topic. He brings a wealth of experience in this area, particularly from his time in local government, and he spoke eloquently about the importance of social work and the difference that social workers can make.
We have around 96,000 social workers practising across the country. For adults, 19,000 of them do so within local authorities and the NHS, and there are around 32,000 social workers working with children and families. I pay tribute to the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford), for the brilliant work that she does supporting children’s social work. Many thousands of social workers are also supporting people at the heart of our communities, in charity and voluntary organisations and in the independent sector, and many others are engaged in vitally important research. Wherever they work, social workers are helping people receive the care they need to live more independent, more fulfilled and happier lives.
The theme for this year’s World Social Work Day was inspired by the Zulu word “ubuntu”, which translates as, “I am because we are.” This speaks to our individuality, but also to the strength we draw from others. Social work, wherever it is practised in the world, is about forging and strengthening connections between individuals, families and our wider communities. Ubuntu is therefore a particularly apt concept.
As we look back over the past year, we reflect on how the pandemic—isolating and disruptive in so many ways—has also, almost counterintuitively, spurred us to break down barriers. Barriers have melted away between professions, organisations and services, as closer connections have been forged out of necessity and from the desire to do the right thing.
Coronavirus has upended all our lives, but closer collaboration has been a vital part of the response. Parts of our recently announced health and social care White Paper have been inspired by, and will build on, that collaboration.
Social workers occupy a unique position in our health and care system. Often, they are the linking professionals between clinical and care services, helping to create and maintain a wider network of support, with the individual’s needs, aspirations and right to choose at the centre. For that reason, it is my sincere belief that social work’s core values have helped us to rise to the unique challenges posed by covid-19. Social workers have responded rapidly to huge pressures and changing needs. They have remained on the frontline to support those shielding and those at higher risk of infection, including people needing safe discharge from hospital.
Meanwhile, our chief social workers for adults have played a vital leadership role in guiding local government and national Government’s response to the pandemic. They have reminded Government of the importance of human relationships, maintaining connections and asking the questions that need to be asked. Under Fran Leddra and Mark Harvey’s joint stewardship, social work’s values and grass-roots perspectives have been writ large in the work of the covid-19 social care taskforce, the winter plan and, now, our post-pandemic recovery planning. The ethical framework that the two social workers produced at the outset of the public health crisis has provided a strong foundation for those endeavours and many others, both centrally and across the regions.
I pay tribute to the principal social workers network. That alliance of highly experienced senior social workers has worked closely with Mark and Fran to maintain a strong link between central Government and the local delivery of social work. That is a valued relationship that we want to build on and continue to learn from. We know how vital social work is in the provision of mental health services; the essential role of approved mental health professionals, or AMHPs, enshrined in the Mental Health Act 1983, is almost wholly undertaken by social workers.
As part of World Mental Health Day last year, I met an inspiring group of AMHPs from across the country who are working in settings across NHS and local authority services. The meeting was one of the most memorable I have had as Care Minister. The group of people I spoke to brought to life the game-changing role that they play in people’s lives.
The AMHP role marries well with social work skills, experience and capacity for independent oversight. AMHPs have the authority to make informed judgments on hospital detention, thinking wider than clinical need, and making sure the decisions taken are the correct ones for the individual. It should be no surprise, therefore, that we have committed ourselves to expanding the number of social workers specialising in mental health, through our Think Ahead graduate training programme. But we are not stopping there. We will invest in more training and development as part of post-pandemic recovery planning and preparation for the reformed Mental Health Act.
We are also committed to the delivery of responsive, high-quality adult safeguarding. As we celebrate World Social Health Day, it is important to remember that social workers in both adults’ and children’s services are the lead professionals in delivering safeguarding. In the coming months, our chief social worker will publish a briefing on the importance of transitional safeguarding. It is vital that young people are positively supported as they move from children’s services into the adult world.
Our amazing social care workforce have been through so much and they need our support. Prioritising their mental and physical health has never been more critical. To that end, we have supported social workers through the pandemic, including providing social workers with PPE and prioritising our frontline social care workforce for vaccination. On that point, last year, the chief social worker worked with the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust to publish guidance for the support and wellbeing of adult social workers and social care professionals during the pandemic. In the years ahead, we will continue to support the mental health and wellbeing of our hard-working and dedicated social care professionals.
It is vital that we support people with learning disabilities and autistic people to live as independently as possible. Again, social workers are the key professional group in contact with those individuals, helping to develop care and support plans, enabling people to aspire and live as independently as possible. Last month, our chief social workers for adults and for children published a joint report entitled “A spectrum of opportunity”, which looks at the role of social work in support of autistic young people. The report draws on the experiences of young people and their families across a range of local authorities and highlights the exceptional work social workers have been undertaking and what more can be done to strengthen practice. Across Government, an all-age autism strategy informed by that learning will be published this year.
I spoke earlier of the complex world we find ourselves in. Coronavirus has had a cruel and disproportionate impact on black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. Protecting the health and wellbeing of our health and care workforce is a crucial step towards tackling health inequalities. We know that 21% of the adult social care workforce are from ethnic minority backgrounds, but there are huge regional variations, with London’s vibrant and diverse communities registering 66% of staff from ethnic minority backgrounds. There are also variations by professional role.
As of April, 18 local authorities will be implementing a workforce race equality standard across their adult and children’s social work departments, building on the learning of the NHS RES, which is in its fifth year. The RES is one step in my ambition to improve our information on the social care workforce, allowing us to identify and address barriers that prevent the full spectrum of voices from being heard. That will provide positive insights into staff progression and representation in senior management to support us fostering equal and fair opportunities for all. I look forward to the lessons that social workers will bring to us during the first phase of implementation.
In closing, I put on record my sincerest thanks to social workers across the country not just for their work throughout the covid-19 pandemic, but for all they bring to our health and care services. No other profession touches, teaches and transforms so many parts of our health and care system and liberates so many individuals, families and communities to live the lives they want and deserve to lead.