Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his oral contribution of 25 June 2018, Official Report, column 589, what the evidential basis is for the statement that there are 35,000 child and family social workers.

As of 30 September 2017, a headcount of 36,360 child and family social workers and agency social workers was recorded in the annual census of child and family social workers in England. The information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childrens-social-work-workforce-2017.