Upston Louise; Brownlee Gerry; O'Connor GregSOCIAL WORKERS REGISTRATION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Social Development and Employment): Thank you Madam Speaker. I present a legislative statement on the Social Workers Registration Legislation Amendment Bill. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website. Hon LOUISE UPSTON: I move That the Social Workers Registration Legislation Amendment Bill be now read a second time. The bill currently seeks to amend the Social Workers Registration Legislation Act 2019 to delay the repeal of the experience pathway for social worker registration from 28 February 2024 to 28 February 2028. Delaying the repeal of the experience pathway will act as a short-term mechanism to help reduce workforce pressures in the social work sector by continuing to provide an alternative means of entering the profession. We believe this is a common-sense change that the House should support. The coalition Government recognises that social workers play a critical role in our communities. They provide essential front-line services to vulnerable New Zealanders. Recently and more so than ever social workers have been critical in supporting New Zealanders. Social workers have been crucial in the very challenging times that we've experienced in recent years including weather events such as Cyclone Gabrielle and extensive flooding around the country. This Government is committed to supporting earlier interventions which are more effective for those who are most at risk. Social workers play an important role in helping to achieve this by providing vital support and assistance to a range of New Zealanders. The Social Workers Registration Act 2003 sets out occupational regulations for social workers. These regulations protect the safety of members of the public by ensuring that social workers are competent to practise and are held accountable while also enhancing the professionalism of social workers. There are two pathways for registration currently: the qualification pathway and—the alternative—the experience pathway. Registration provides the basis for determining the safety of social workers to practise. Both pathways require an initial competency assessment and a fit and proper person test. Once registered further assurance is provided by the accountability and oversight mechanisms that come with registration. To be eligible for registration applicants must have a qualification prescribed by the Social Workers Registration Board. However section 13 of the Social Workers Registration Act of 2003 provides this alternative experience pathway to registration for people who have had extensive practical experience but who do not have the prescribed qualification. Instead of demonstrating their competence by having a prescribed qualification this experience pathway allows applicants to satisfy the Social Workers Registration Board of their competence based on their significant practical experience. Some of this includes having enough practical experience to compensate for not having a prescribed qualification—usually 10 to 15 years—having demonstrable competence to practise as a social worker having demonstrable competence in working as a social worker with Māori and various ethnic and cultural groups and meeting the fit and proper person requirement. Initially registration for social workers was voluntary; however in February 2021 registration became mandatory. The intent of mandatory registration of social workers is to ensure the safety of the public and this of course remains paramount. In 2017 Cabinet agreed to repeal the experience pathway with a delayed commencement date. The decision was made to support the professionalism of the social work sector by emphasising and standardising the workforce through academic achievement. This was underpinned by an assumption that there would be sufficient supply to meet future demand for social workers. The need to support the professionalisation of the sector remains paramount. However the operating environment for social workers has changed since this decision was taken in 2017. More time is now needed to aid the sector to transition to a mandatory qualification setting due to the social worker shortages that we currently face. This bill will support the social worker sector to respond to these changes by allowing people to continue to register as social workers through the experience pathway on a temporary basis. In particular social worker workforce shortages have continued to increase. There has also been an increase in the demand for social work services due to the impacts of COVID-19 and the recent weather events that I referenced before alongside a reduction in supply due to decreasing student enrolment. The Social Workers Registration Board estimate that there are 700 unfilled social worker vacancies. Delaying the repeal of the experience pathway will act as a short-term mechanism to help reduce workforce pressures in the social work sector by continuing to provide this alternative means of entering the profession. I also expect that the sector will continue to take additional steps to address the current workforce shortages. Delaying the repeal of the experience pathway will also enable the social work sector to maximise the opportunities presented by the recent pay increase for social workers. These increases provide a financial incentive for those who are currently unregistered practitioners to register as social workers through the experience pathway. Increasing the number of practitioners captured by the accountability mechanisms that come with registration will enhance public safety and accountability. There has also been a growing recognition in recent years of the importance of diversifying the social work sector to better serve the communities most effectively who meet their needs and aspirations. The experience pathway is a key avenue for supporting this. Delaying the repeal of the experience pathway will ensure that this mechanism for entry into the social work sector remains open while longer-term work to consider alternative entry pathways into social work is undertaken. I wish to put on record my thanks to the Social Services and Community Committee for its work on considering the bill. The committee's scrutiny reinforced the importance of the safety mechanisms that come with registration for social workers including those registered through the experience pathway. It is important that all people who interact with social workers can be assured that the service they receive is from a competent fit and proper practitioner. I also want to thank the members of the public and of the social work sector who provided both written and oral submissions on the bill. I want to provide them with my heartfelt thanks for the tremendous time and effort they've put in not just to contributing their expertise to this amendment—the work that they do each and every day—but also to the development of the entire registration system for social workers. As a member of that select committee in the previous Parliament I have seen how committed the profession is to ensuring the best possible outcomes for New Zealanders. Many of these submissions supported the intent of the bill including the need to increase the supply of social workers to meet the growing demand. I note that the select committee recommended no changes to the bill. However I do acknowledge that some submitters had concerns with delaying the repeal of the experience pathway particularly regarding the potential impact on public trust and confidence in the social work profession if the delay was too long. I recognise these concerns and appreciate the constructive feedback. These concerns have reinforced the need to take a broader look at the social work sector including entry pathways. I also note the recommendations that submitters made on the bill—including one from the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers—that the repeal of the experience pathway be delayed by only two years as opposed to four years which was proposed in the bill. This recommendation will balance the needs of the sector to support the supply of social workers in the short term while also emphasising the need to transition to a mandatory qualification environment as quickly as possible. This recommendation is a key consideration for the next steps of progressing the bill. I intend to propose an update to the bill and table a change at the committee of the whole House stage to shorten the time frame of the delay of the experience pathway repeal. I consider that this would balance the benefits of extending the experience pathway while maintaining the emphasis of transitioning to a mandatory qualification environment as soon as possible.I would like to finish by speaking directly to the social work representatives who have contributed to the development of this bill. You provide an invaluable service and I thank you for the outstanding contribution you make. I look forward to seeing this bill through the remaining stages of the parliamentary process and I commend this bill to the House. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The question is that the motion be agreed.