Ministers quizzed on actions to support social work profession

Better support for social workers and action to raise the profile of the profession have been raised in the Scottish Parliament.

Following a meeting with our National Director last week, Health and Social Care Spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, Gillian Mackay MSP, has asked what action the Scottish Government is taking to improve public understanding and profile of social work. You can read Ms Mackay's question here.

The need for social work to have stronger public representation and wider understanding of its role was one of the key findings in the recent 'Setting the Bar' report. It highlighted that social workers are calling "for a more assertive voice, clearer articulation of what social work does well and a deeper recognition of the emotional labour involved". You can read the report here.

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour MSP, Foysol Choudhurry (who is also a member of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee) is quizzing Scottish Ministers on how they plan to move social work away from being a 'crisis response' only profession. You can read Mr Choudhurry's question here.

Giving social workers the time and space to intervene earlier to prevent problems from worsening was a strong takeaway from our recent Cross-Party on Social Work meeting. SASW produced a flash report on this issue which we have used to brief MSPs. You can read our report here.

SASW has asked both Ms Mackay and Mr Choudhurry to keep us updated on the Ministerial responses. It is encouraging to see MSPs representing the profession by pressing the government to make change happen and we look forward to working with them further on these campaigns.

If you would like to be kept informed on these responses, or any of our public affairs work, please contact our Policy Officer on jonny.adamson@basw.co.uk