Mr. Fred McBride:

On the matter of terms and conditions, to which the Deputy alluded, I have opened discussions with the Secretary General of the Department and argued that we really need to look at differentiated terms and conditions for child protection social workers. As someone who has managed social work for all of the care groups, including older people and those with disabilities, I can safely say that the child protection shift, and I have said this publicly, is the hardest shift and perhaps we need to be looking at differentiated rates. That is not entirely within my gift, however.