This morning, I had the privilege to speak in a Westminster Hall debate on the impact of COVID-19 on social work. This debate led by Cat Smith was an important chance to commend the professionalism of our social workers and to raise my concerns about the lessons we must learn from the last 24 months.

In Hillingdon and Harrow, I know that social workers have played key roles in the community supporting vulnerable individuals and harnessing support from local charities such as H4All. By deploying staff and volunteers, charities were able to lessen the burden on social workers while ensuring the needs of the most vulnerable were fulfilled, despite all the pressures of Covid.

I also outlined the importance of using this opportunity to do better. As the co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for social work, I am acutely aware of the ongoing challenges faced by social workers, and I highlighted work already being done to help people who want to become social workers develop quickly.

This work is ongoing, and I look forward to seeing further work conducted in this field. 

If you would like to watch the full debate, you can do so here.