Draft Social Workers (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2022

Claire Coutinho Excerpts

Wednesday 9th November 2022 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Claire Coutinho)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Social Workers (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2022.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Maria. The draft regulations, which were laid before the House on 17 October, make changes to Social Work England’s regulatory framework. To start with, I thank our brilliant social workers who provide much-needed help and support for the most vulnerable children and adults.

Social Work England began operating in December 2019 as part of wider reforms to improve confidence in social work and raise the status of the profession. As a specialist regulator for social workers in England, public protection is at the heart of what Social Work England does. The Social Workers Regulations 2018 set out the details for the new regulator, covering how social workers would register and how the fitness to practise process would work, as well as educational and professional standards. Social Work England has been operating for nearly three years, and this statutory instrument will enable the regulator to make small improvements to its operational efficiency and support it to better deliver effective public protection.

The Government consulted on the draft changes to Social Work England’s regulatory framework from 23 March to 11 May this year. We received 48 responses from a range of interested stakeholders, including service users and social workers. I am pleased to share that each proposal received broad support, with approval ranging from 67% to 94%. Having considered all the responses carefully, we have now laid before the House a draft statutory instrument to implement the proposals made in our consultation. The instrument makes changes to Social Work England’s fitness to practise processes and procedures and its duty to co-operate. It also introduces a right for registrants to request voluntary removal from the register. Additionally, it extends the Professional Standards Authority’s oversight of Social Work England so that it matches its oversight powers for other regulators.

I will now talk about some of the details of the changes. Fitness to practise means that a social worker meets professional standards. Regulators investigate fitness to practise concerns when they receive information indicating that a social worker’s practice could be impaired. That is vital for both public protection and confidence in social work as a regulated profession.

Sometimes, it is appropriate to use interim orders—orders that temporarily prevent a social worker from practising while an investigation is ongoing. The instrument makes improvements to the regulator’s internal processes relating to those interim orders. It removes delay in the current system by allowing the regulator to initiate interim orders directly, bringing Social Work England in line with other regulators. In addition, interim orders will now be linked to individual cases, rather than a specific social worker. That means that each case is treated separately on its own evidence, allowing the regulator to take the most appropriate course of action in each case. The instrument also makes provision for fitness to practise outcomes to be recorded on the register much faster than before. Where a social worker has been found guilty of one of the serious offences set out in schedule 3 to the Social Workers Regulations, automatic removal will now be published with immediate effect.

I would also like to discuss the provisions relating to data sharing. It is vital that Social Work England co-operates with not only other regulators, but the other bodies and individuals who work alongside it in public protection. The instrument introduces two new provisions regarding data sharing: the first is a duty to share information relating to the regulator’s functions when it is requested and when it is in the public interest to do so. The second is a power to disclose any information relating to a registered social worker’s fitness to practise. The instrument is clear that the provisions do not override existing data protection legislation, ensuring that the changes deliver effective and proportionate public protection.

The instrument addresses an omission in the Social Workers Regulations by making it clear that the regulator can share information with relevant bodies outside of England in the exercise of its functions. It also introduces a provision to allow the regulator to consider applications from registered social workers to be voluntarily removed from the register, a power that is held by many other health and care regulators. It will, for example, help social workers with significant ill health and an open fitness to practise concern to leave the register if they are no longer able to practise. When deciding whether voluntary removal is appropriate, the regulator’s primary consideration will be protecting the public from social workers whose fitness to practise could be impaired. The regulator will be required to publish voluntary removals from the register, and may publish further details if it deems it necessary for the protection of the public.

The instrument also helps to ensure that the Professional Standards Authority’s oversight of Social Work England is equal to its oversight of other regulators. The Professional Standards Authority is the regulator of all health and care regulators. It performs a number of functions in respect of Social Work England, including annual performance reviews and the referring of cases to the High Court where it feels that fitness to practise decisions are insufficient for public protection.

This instrument enables the Professional Standards Authority to refer to the High Court mandatory review decisions and cases where the regulator has restored a social worker to the register without conditions or sanctions. These changes strengthen public protection safeguards. It is usual once a new body has become operational to identify areas of regulation that can be improved. The measures in the regulations are important to support Social Work England to improve its fitness to practise processes and deliver effective public protection. I hope the Committee will support the measures and their objectives and I commend them to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Claire Coutinho]

I thank the hon. Lady for her constructive contribution, and I look forward to her perhaps making more such contributions in similar roles in the future. I think she is right to call out the problem with inadequate children’s social care. The Department is making good progress, and we have seen the number of providers rated as “inadequate” come down. She is also right to highlight wider reform. In my time in this role, I have already met with Josh MacAlister. I am very passionate about children’s social care, and I will be looking at publishing an implementation strategy as quickly as possible. It will address some of the challenges she has raised, particularly around the recruitment and status of social care workers.

I note the shadow Minister’s concerns about the protection of employees. We have ensured that public protection is paramount, but we also want to make sure that social workers in this country who do tremendous work feel respected in their profession. I commend the regulations to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.