Rich Katherine: Social Workers Registration Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Rich Katherine: Social Workers Registration Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4853] 
KATHERINE RICH (NZ National) 
: 
 The National Party will be supporting this bill because we think it is very important that social workers work towards a position where they can become registered. We think it is very important that every occupational group thinks very seriously about the standards within its own occupation and of course we are a party that has always supported high standards in any occupation be it social work engineering medicine or any other area. 
But I say that this particular bill is a mere shadow of what was expected. There were huge expectations of this bill particularly from the social work community itself. There was an expectation that it would make a real difference to social workers by lifting the standards in social work and putting in place a better system of registration. Initially even the Government was looking at mandatory registration for those working within the Government sector. That is why I think it is a bit of a shame that the Government has made an about-turn when it comes to the provisions that relate to the Government sector. 
In Mick Brown’s report in December 2001 which was a very important report it is stated that the introduction of social worker registration should be given urgency. At the time the Minister told his Cabinet colleagues that he wanted to have this bill in place by the middle of 2001. Now here we are nearly 2 years later than that having only got as far as this with a very watered-down version of what was originally intended. Originally it was intended that social workers from the Department of Child Youth and Family Services and from other Government agencies would be required to work towards registration. We all understood that that would have been an administrative issue for a lot of social workers but we felt that it was important that the Government put a peg in the ground to say that was the standard it expected of Government-employed social workers and in particular those who exercise statutory powers—in relation to that those social workers who work specifically with children. 
That provision has been removed which was quite a shock I suppose not only to the social work sector but also to the Minister himself. When we look at some of the Cabinet papers of the time we see there was actually a Cabinet recommendation that “all statutory social work functions must be performed by registered social workers. The Minister of Social Services and Employment should require CYFS to include in their purchase agreement that registered social workers must be employed for social work positions and incremental targets negotiated”. Also a transition period of 6 years or more was to be allowed to give time for existing Child Youth and Family Services social workers to gain qualifications required for registration and one permanent position on the board was to be reserved for a person from Child Youth and Family Services. That has all gone now. Only some months later all those recommendations by Cabinet had to be rescinded. 
Why was that? It was because the Government had not done its homework. When the Government turned round to the Department of Child Youth and Family Services and told it what the obligation would be the department said that 44 percent of its front-line staff did not have any qualification at all and that only 55 percent of the social workers who joined it as new employees had qualifications. Basically the department advised that that standard was not possible. It would also in terms of training costs have cost about an additional $2 million a year to train Child Youth and Family Services employees up to the level where they could be registered. 
I see that as an administrative hurdle but not as a reason to give up working towards higher standards in social work altogether. The Minister is right on one thing: all New Zealanders deserve to know that when they are working alongside a social worker that worker is of a certain quality and standard and has done certain things. That is not to say that life experience is not important but when we look at registration I think it is important that we put a peg in the ground that works towards a higher standard of service because social workers are dealing with New Zealand’s most vulnerable people. 
This bill is nothing more than a shell of what it was. Most of the provisions have been watered down and the bill no longer applies to those social workers who work within the Government sector. Registration is totally voluntary which means people can either decide to call themselves a social worker or not to do so. Yes there is provision that only registered social workers will be able to call themselves that but the average punter out on the street will not know the difference between a registered social worker and someone who professes to be working in a social work capacity. So the bill has been watered down. Even the Supplementary Order Paper has further watered down the provisions. For example the maximum total period for which a person may hold provisional registration is extended from 6 to 8 years. For a person seeking temporary registration as a social worker the period is extended from 6 months to 4 years. 
Eight years as a total maximum period in which to hold provisional registration is the equivalent of someone’s entire childhood. I do not think that is good enough. I do not think those objectives are ambitious enough. I think that it was possible at least to get the Government sector working towards a higher standard for its social workers and really having been scared off by a bit of resource and administrative cost the Government has just given up on that obligation altogether. So if we look at this bill we can see why the social work sector is very happy to get it into the House at least. It is 2 years late but social workers are mainly happy because this bill just brings registration into the House for the first time. I think there are some deep concerns about the quality of this bill and about what will actually be achieved. 
When the State is dealing with New Zealand families and particularly when it is exercising statutory powers registration is important. There have been concerns about professionalism and about the experience and education that is needed. In particular if we look at some of the high-profile cases that have been in the media of late we see a lot of the concerns the public have relate to the experience of social workers. When we look at the amount of experience that some Child Youth and Family Services social workers have we see the majority of staff have less than 5 years’ experience. That is not to underestimate the quality of some of the social work training programmes and the teaching in a lot of those programmes but life experience does count as well. There does need to be a greater source of social workers who have a lot more experience. That is also why we are deeply concerned about the shortages of social workers in this country. 
Working as a social worker particularly with the Government agencies is not a bed of roses; it is a very tough job to do. Social workers are criticised by a wide range of people when mistakes are made but equally the public has the right to have very high standards. By establishing the registration procedure and working towards having a higher standard of professionalism within the industry we will all be better off. But in terms of what the Government has done here in this bill it is sad to see that many of the provisions have been watered down and that many of the things this bill aims to do have been slowed down. I think that to be able to sit for 8 years on a provisional registration is appalling. The industry was keen to get this legislation into the House and implemented as fast as possible so that social workers could start working together as an industry to provide a better service. So it is a shame that the Government has not played its part and that social workers from Child Youth and Family Services and other Government agencies have no obligation to be involved in registering at all. A lot of training needs to be done to be able to take social workers to that level but it seems that the Government has backed away from that obligation as well. 
We will be raising other concerns that we have about this bill during the course of the debate. We have particular concerns about the issues relating to the treaty and about some of the more politically correct aspects of this bill. But in short I say we will support the bill.