Social Services: Training

(asked on 24th January 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department has allocated to phase (a) 1 and (b) 2 of the implementation of the National Assessment and Accreditation System.


Answered by
Nadhim Zahawi Portrait
Nadhim Zahawi
This question was answered on 1st February 2019

​For the period from July 2018 up to and including March 2020, the government has allocated a maximum of £18.5 million (rounded) for funding phases 1 and 2 of the National Assessment and Accreditation System (NAAS). This excludes piloting and set-up costs incurred prior to July 2018.

This is broken down as follows;

  • £4.2 million for the operation, continuous improvement and evaluation of NAAS in phase 1.
  • £7.42 million for the operation, continuous improvement and evaluation of NAAS in phase 2.
  • £6.85 million grant funding for an additional 34 local authorities to join phase 2.

The cost per social worker of assessment under the NAAS varies according to the stage of development of the programme, the throughput of social workers in each local authority and the cost and capacity of a particular assessment venue. Therefore, at this stage we are not able to attribute a cost per social worker. The programme is being developed in an agile manner and through the first phases we have appointed an independent evaluator to collate financial and benefits data, the evidence from which will inform the future rollout approach.

For national rollout of NAAS, delivery and cost modelling is currently underway and the cost per social worker will depend on the delivery model(s) selected. It is anticipated that a significant proportion of NAAS investment made during phase 1 and phase 2 will support future delivery of NAAS on a national basis.

Reticulating Splines