Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the workforce shortage in social care in the (a) short and (b) long term.

We are taking action to increase recruitment into adult social care in both the short and long term. We have launched an online recruitment tool, Join Social Care, to simplify and fast track the recruitment process, and are offering free and rapid induction training via Skills for Care for new and existing staff and volunteers. In the last year we have run a National Recruitment Campaign across broadcast, digital and social media highlighting the vital work care workers do.

The Department for Health and Social Care is also working with the Department for Work and Pensions to promote adult social care careers to jobseekers, including those who may have lost their jobs during the pandemic from other sectors, such as tourism, hospitality and retail. We are continuing to work with the sector and other government departments to understand how we can further support recruitment and retention, and we continue to work to raise the profile of adult social care careers.