Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that the plans to criminalise social workers, teachers and councillors and others who fail to act in the cases of child abuse will have an effect on recruitment to the caring profession and to service on local authority committees; and if so, what.

The current level of recruitment to children’s social work is strong. Statistics, as of 30 September 2014, show that 26,810 children’s social workers were employed by English local authorities. This is equivalent to 24,620 full-time workers.

This Government prioritises the recruitment of social workers. In 2014-15, the Department for Education has provided bursaries and grants for social work students worth £81 million and funded two accelerated entry programmes: Frontline and Step Up to Social Work. These programmes aim to attract high calibre applicants into social work and applications to both programmes have been heavily over-subscribed. The Department is also incentivising new teaching partnership arrangements through a £2 million fund in 2015-16. This will enable social work employers to work hand in hand with universities to bring talented people into social work, provide them with high quality training and support them in work through continuous professional development.

The recruitment of high quality social workers is essential for providing the best support and care possible for vulnerable children. The Department believes that highly competent individuals will always act in the best interests of children. The Department has agreed to consult on extending the criminal offence of wilful neglect to cover social workers who fail to act in cases of child abuse and neglect. The potential impact on recruitment to caring positions will be considered fully in the light of consultation responses.