Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what training will be offered to social workers in England to prepare for the introduction of the third party reporting mechanism for the non-consensual sex exemption in respect of child tax credit payments.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has no responsibility for the training of social workers.

The Government outlined in the response to the ‘Exceptions to the limiting of the individual Child Element of Child Tax Credit and the Child Element of Universal Credit to a maximum of two children’ consultation on 20 January 2017 that the list of third parties used for the non-consensual sex exception will include health care professionals, social workers and relevant specialist charities. The Government is currently working with stakeholders to develop guidance for this process. The Government recognises this exception is sensitive and have consulted on how it should be implemented.