Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

 I propose to take Questions Nos. 61, 66 and 82 together.

I am very much aware that the ideal for the continuity of care of vulnerable children is to have a long-term social worker available when required. Tusla has taken a proactive approach to the recruitment of social workers in a difficult and challenging recruitment environment. We covered this a bit with Deputy Broughan. There is a worldwide shortage of social workers and this was noted by HIQA in its report on 19 June 2018. Tusla is competing with the HSE and the voluntary and private sectors. Tusla has advised me that recruitment efforts to 31 August 2019 are ahead of target for social work with a total  figure of 149 hires. This has resulted in an increase of social workers by 64 whole-time equivalents when attrition is taken into account.

I share the concerns expressed by Deputies regarding the increased use of temporary agency social workers in recent years and I have communicated this to Tusla. I also appreciate the attention that the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs has given the issue as part of its deliberations on the recruitment and retention of social workers in Tusla. Notwithstanding this, Tusla must deploy agency workers to ensure it can continue to provide its services to vulnerable children and their families at a time when overall referrals are increasing. I understand that Tusla is currently reviewing agency use. I am informed that formal discussions will take place with Fórsa on 29 October 2019 regarding a proposal to carry out an agency conversion across front-line service. I welcome this initiative.

I will be raising the issue of agency staff in my performance statement to Tusla, which will issue next month, as a key input to its business plan for 2020. Tusla currently spends approximately €31 million annually on agency staff. I am setting it a target of reducing this spend, primarily through the conversion of agency staff to permanent staff. I also requested that Tusla develop a strategic multi-annual workforce plan, which would include reflection of the labour market and the current limited supply of social workers. I am pleased that Tusla now has a strategic workforce planning model which I understand will be rolled out over the coming years. The implementation of the strategic workforce planning model will represent a very significant change for Tusla and its service delivery teams in 17 geographical areas. The model will increase and formalise the use of social care workers on child protection teams. The model should also reflect the realities of the labour market supply and ensure that social workers are supported by appropriate complementary grades. I refer again to Deputy Broughan's questions earlier. The model will also seek to deliver on a strategic focus for Tusla with a gradual transition to multidisciplinary teams. The multidisciplinary teams will look to consist of the optimum mix of skills across social work, social care, therapeutic staff, family support, education welfare and administrative support.

Tusla Recruit has also informed me that it has a very special, proactive approach to recruitment  with 16 social work-specific campaigns, for example a rolling campaign for professionally qualified social workers; the social work graduate programme designed to recruit new graduates; social work team lead; senior social work practitioner; and principal social worker. I welcome the fact that there is a focus on recruitment and retention as part of the roll-out of the strategic workforce implementation plan, assisting staff well-being by assessing workplace stressors and critical incident exposure in the workplace.

My Department has also taken an initiative to establish the social work education group which provides a forum for Tusla and other stakeholders, including the HSE and the Probation Service, to explore and act upon possible actions to influence the future supply of social workers.

The first priority identified by the group is the streamlining of student placements. My Department has commissioned research to identify alternative approaches to streamlining the process of working with stakeholders. A final report is due shortly and potential next steps will be considered. The social work education group also provides a perfect platform for Tusla to bring forward creative ideas for initiatives such as conversion courses to train existing social care workers as social workers. These are just some of the ideas that are coming forward.

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