Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has allocated for the training of (a) youth workers and (b) social service practitioners, in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

Local councils are responsible for allocating funding to youth services in line with local need and this includes workforce development. The government, in partnership with the Big Lottery Fund, has invested £40 million through the Youth Investment Fund to expand and build the sustainability of local voluntary, community and social enterprise delivered youth services. Many grant recipients will spend part of their grant on workforce development. The Department for Education funds several central training programmes for child and family social workers including, for example, the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment for newly qualified social workers. Separately, many of the projects funded through the Department’s Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme and Partners in Practice (PiP) programme include training and professional development of social workers. Expenditure in each of the last five years and budget for the current financial year is shown in the table below.