Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the survey by the British Association for Social Workers, launched in May 2018, which found that social workers spend 20 per cent of their time in direct contact with families, with one out of three social workers not working directly with children.

Securing further improvement in the quality of the children’s social care system is a priority. We welcome the contribution both of these reports make to these efforts. Whilst local authorities are responsible for the deployment of child and family social workers, the government is continuing to invest in practice improvement. This includes our £84 million investment in the Strengthening Families, Protecting Children programme; and securing better research and evidence about practice and the social work workforce such as through the What Works for Children’s Social Care. Our large-scale longitudinal study of child and family social workers will provide significant insights into the experience of child and family social workers and will help both the government and employers identify priorities for action.