Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that providers of local authority-commissioned care for people with learning disabilities do not close as a direct result of their back pay liability for sleep-in shifts.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is committed to ensuring that the social care sector is stable, both for those receiving care and for care workers.
The Government recognises the pressure that has been placed on the sleep-in sector by historic liabilities for back pay and is exploring options to minimise any impact on the social care sector. This includes working closely with stakeholders to ensure that we have a clear understanding of any impact the sector may face.
The information in the Deloitte study forms part of the evidence base that is being used to assess options and is subject to further analysis and refinement. Consequently there is no timetable for publication.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that providers of local authority-commissioned care for people with learning disabilities do not close as a direct result of their back pay liability for sleep-in shifts.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is committed to ensuring that the social care sector is stable, both for those receiving care and for care workers.
The Government recognises the pressure that has been placed on the sleep-in sector by historic liabilities for back pay and is exploring options to minimise any impact on the social care sector. This includes working closely with stakeholders to ensure that we have a clear understanding of any impact the sector may face.
The information in the Deloitte study forms part of the evidence base that is being used to assess options and is subject to further analysis and refinement. Consequently there is no timetable for publication.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for the publication of the results of the Deloitte survey on sleep-in back pay liability.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is committed to ensuring that the social care sector is stable, both for those receiving care and for care workers.
The Government recognises the pressure that has been placed on the sleep-in sector by historic liabilities for back pay and is exploring options to minimise any impact on the social care sector. This includes working closely with stakeholders to ensure that we have a clear understanding of any impact the sector may face.
The information in the Deloitte study forms part of the evidence base that is being used to assess options and is subject to further analysis and refinement. Consequently there is no timetable for publication.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a fund to reimburse the historic back pay directly to sleep-in care workers.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is committed to ensuring that the social care sector is stable, both for those receiving care and for care workers.
The Government recognises the pressure that has been placed on the sleep-in sector by historic liabilities for back pay and is exploring options to minimise any impact on the social care sector. This includes working closely with stakeholders to ensure that we have a clear understanding of any impact the sector may face.
The information in the Deloitte study forms part of the evidence base that is being used to assess options and is subject to further analysis and refinement. Consequently there is no timetable for publication.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department provides to clinical commissioning groups regarding workforce planning (a) across the board and (b) for social workers on hospital wards.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Department does not provide guidance for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) or hospitals on social work workforce planning.
Local authorities are responsible for the commissioning of social care services.
It is the responsibility of individual employers to ensure they have the right number of staff with the right skills through their workforce planning processes.
Health Education England is supporting the workforce elements of the Sustainability and Transformation Plans by establishing Local Workforce Action Boards.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many social workers are employed in the adult social care sector.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Skills for Care workforce data shows that there are 17,000 social worker job roles in the adult social care sector. This data is as at March 2016 for the independent sector and September 2015 for statutory local authorities.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many social workers are directly employed by the NHS in adult social care.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Most social workers are not employed by the National Health Service, however there are a small number who work within the Social Services care setting.
As of March 2017 NHS Digital data shows there are 4,144 full time equivalent social workers directly employed by the NHS.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many social workers are employed by private adult social care providers carrying out NHS contracts.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The information is not available in the format requested.
The National Health Service can only identify social workers who are directly employed by the NHS.