Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications have been made for social work bursaries for students commencing courses in September 2017; and how many and what proportion of those applications have been successful.

The information requested is not yet available. The deadline for postgraduate social work students starting courses in September 2017 applying for a bursary is 1 November 2017. A separate deadline of 14 February 2018 applies for postgraduate students starting their course in January 2018.

Undergraduate social work students starting in the 2017 academic year will not be eligible for a bursary until their second year of study.