College of Social Work

Baroness Uddin Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

I do not have those figures at my disposal, and I think, in fairness, it is slightly wide of the Question on the Order Paper.

[Baroness Uddin (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, as a former trained social worker, I am all too aware of the demands on social workers and the challenges they face, including not receiving adequate training on general disability issues but, more important, on the issue of autism. Given that the lack of recognition often leads to delay and misdiagnosis, causing huge setbacks, how do the Government and the Department of Health view the College of Social Work in its role in supporting people with autism more effectively? Will it ensure that there is commensurate funding available for that?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

We are entirely committed to improving the quality of social worker training. Training, of course, is not done directly by the college but through universities and other places, and obviously that training is going to need to take into account all sorts of different forms of disability or disadvantage, of which autism would be one.