Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the closure of the College of Social Work on the quality of social workers.

The Government recognises the need for a strong professional body for social work, both in terms of promoting the vital work that social workers do and to deliver the high standards for the profession that both users of social work services and the general public expect and deserve.

While the College of Social Work (the college) has made some progress in driving up standards, they have not been able to deliver the improvements at the pace and to the standard required. Out of 90,000 social workers in England, only 16,000 have chosen to become members of the College and of those only about 1,000 are active members.

The Government remains committed to supporting the social work profession and will engage with key stakeholders to continue to improve the quality of social work.