Written question asked by Paul Flynn (Labour) on Tuesday, 14 June 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 16 June 2005. It was answered by Liam Byrne (Labour) on Monday, 27 June 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Nutrition

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice and guidance her Department has issued on core education and training in respect of nutrition and malnutrition for (a) health and social care professionals and (b) health and social care workers involved in putting the new Unified Assessment procedures into practice at bands two and three of Agenda for Change or equivalent.

Answer: For health and social care professionals it is the responsibility of the appropriate regulatory bodies to set standards for the pre-registration training of doctors, nurses, social workers and other healthcare professionals and approve the education institutions that provide the training and determine the curricula.Post-registration training needs for national health service staff are determined against local NHS priorities, through appraisal processes and training needs analyses informed by local delivery plans and the needs of the service. The post-qualification framework for social workers has been reviewed by the General Social Care Council and new arrangements for post qualification awards will come into force in September 2007.For health and social care workers national occupational standards set out the skills, knowledge and values required and are used as benchmarks for national vocational qualifications. Joint health and social care national occupational standards contain specific standards on meeting nutritional needs.It is the responsibility of social care service providers and NHS trusts to ensure that their employees are suitably qualified and competent.

Secondary information