Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress he has made on introducing an Early Careers Framework for social workers.

The department is considering the recommendations from the final report of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, published on 23 May, alongside the recommendations from the National Panel Review into the tragic deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson, which was published on 26 May, and the Competition and Markets Authority’s study into children’s social care placements, which published its final report in March 2022.

We aim to set out a detailed implementation strategy by the end of the year that takes account of the three reviews.

The department supports the principle of the Review’s proposed early career framework, and we will set out plans to refocus the support social workers already receive early in their careers as part of the implementation strategy.