Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 206: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the recommended ratio of social workers to population; the ratio recommended in areas of disadvantage; the number of social workers employed and the population generally by the Health Service Executive; the number employed and the population in areas of disadvantage; the rate of turnover of social workers; and the extent of the use of student social workers in the provision of social work by the Health Service Executive. [4594/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, my Department has requested the parliamentary affairs division of the executive to arrange to have this matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.

Nonetheless, employment information collected by my Department in relation to social work grades shows that the number of social workers employed in the public health service increased by 897 to 2061 or 77% in wholetime equivalent terms between 31 December 1997 and 30 September 2005. The table below shows a breakdown of these figures by Health Service Executive Area at end September 2005.

The Deputy may wish to note, also, that the report of the last survey of social work posts conducted by the National Social Work Qualifications Board on 1 September 2001 gives further information on the distribution of social workers by work area. Data on the distribution of social work posts by type of service are also given but does not identify disadvantage as a category. Some consideration was given in the report, to the issue of ratios of population per social work posts and practitioners. It was found that internationally it is difficult to discern a standard or ideal number of social work posts to population because the role of a social worker can be different in different jurisdictions and because the available information is not consistent. The number of posts may vary according to factors such as dependency ratios, models of social services and historical deficits.