Government pledge £58m towards employing more highly skilled social care professionals.
Attached are details of the forthcoming Public Policy Exchange Conference, entitled Minding the Gap: Recruitment and Retention in Children's Services, which will take place on Tuesday 30th June 2009 at One Birdcage Walk, Westminster, London. The event is not cheap but could well be worth visiting by those involved in the recruitment and retention of social care professionals.
"In a further response to the Baby Peter tragedy, the Government has pledged £58m towards employing more highly skilled social care professionals and improving overall recruitment and retention levels within the children's services workforce. This latest announcement seeks to underpin many of the commitments already outlined in the 2020 Children & Young People's Workforce Reform Strategy published in December, which set out the Government's vision of creating a children's services workforce that is "ambitious, excellent, committed and valued".
This special one-day conference, hosted by the Centre for Parliamentary Studies, offers a timely opportunity to assess the latest workforce reform measures and discuss their practical contribution to tackling deep-rooted recruitment and retention problems in children's services. The conference will also consider what further measures still need to be implemented to build a robust framework with a workforce equipped to deliver the radical changes needed to improve the lives of all children and young people who need support and protection.
Delegates will have the opportunity to debate, share best practice and network with colleagues from across the children's services, local authority and government landscape"
The bell sounds, the lights dim, the traps burst open and six greyhounds pound the sand in pursuit of the mechanical 'hare'...
And an evening of Greyhound racing is the perfect antidote to a day of social work as a group of SocialWork 2000 locums discovered last week at the Oxford stadium. Treated to the luxury of an executive suite our accountant Michael was first off the mark with a large win which he was sadly not able to match in the next 10 races. Zoe knew the form finding a winning ticket in 9 out of 11 races. The rest of us simply took the opportunity to wind down, have some fun and discover how life is in the variety of settings in which we work.
Welcome back to Emma. Emma has been on maternity leave for a year and devoted herself to giving her son Charlie the best start in his life. She has also been using coaching skills to get the best out of elder brother Harry who has the responsibility of being a role model. Emma is resuming responsibility for the whole Recruitment Team across the High Wycombe and Milton Keynes offices. She started again in May and has really hit the ground running 
and we are looking forward to her leadership in the year ahead. Our thanks go to Jo and Kate who have stepped up to take on greater responsibility during the last year and maintain a very high level of service. Maggie Whymark also played her part. James has been seen walking around with a tangible face of relief and is delighted to have Emma’s talents on board again.
Welcome to a new feature in the SW2k newsletter telling us a little bit more about the locums who work for us. Please email 
Are you an indoor or an outdoor person?