Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of professional social work placements provided by (a) local authorities, (b) third sector organisations and (c) other bodies in 2014-15.
The number of placement days and number of social work practice placements for the 2012-13 academic year are shown in the following table.
Universities will submit their final returns on social work practice placements to the NHS Business Services Authority for the 2013-14 academic year in November 2014.
The Department estimates that a similar number of placements and placement days to 2013-14 will be required in the 2014-15 academic year.
Social Work Practice Placements in the 2012-13 academic year
| Number of Placements | Number of Placement Days |
Local Authorities | 637 | 57,393 |
Third Sector Organisations | 3,687 | 287,050 |
Other | 9,098 | 777,548 |
Total | 13,422 | 1,121,991 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority