Asked by: Baroness Pitkeathley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their People at the Heart of Care: adult social care reform white paper, published on 1 December 2021, what progress they have made on their delivery of the £25 million fund in support of unpaid carers.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is finalising its plans for how we will deliver up to an additional £25 million that we committed to in People at the Heart of Care to support unpaid carers and hopes to share plans shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Pitkeathley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the percentage of (1) family judges, and (2) magistrates, who have completed the (a) continuation training, (b) digital training, and (c) face-to-face training, on domestic abuse that is available through the Judicial College.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
To preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lord Chief Justice, the Senior President of Tribunals, and the Chief Coroner have statutory responsibility for judicial training, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. These responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College.
The College launched new mandatory digital training on domestic abuse for family judges and family magistrates in Autumn 2021. In April 2022, the College rolled out a new one-year programme of intensive face-to-face Domestic Abuse training for family and civil judges, including training which addresses the Domestic Abuse Act. From September 2022, the College rolled out a similar programme of Domestic Abuse training for family magistrates. The Judicial College publishes annually its prospectus and activity report.
Asked by: Baroness Pitkeathley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the names of (1) the individuals, and (2) the organisations, who (a) write, and (b) deliver, the Judicial College training on domestic abuse to family judges and magistrates.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
To preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lord Chief Justice, the Senior President of Tribunals, and the Chief Coroner have statutory responsibility for judicial training, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. These responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College.
The College launched new mandatory digital training on domestic abuse for family judges and family magistrates in Autumn 2021. In April 2022, the College rolled out a new one-year programme of intensive face-to-face Domestic Abuse training for family and civil judges, including training which addresses the Domestic Abuse Act. From September 2022, the College rolled out a similar programme of Domestic Abuse training for family magistrates. The Judicial College publishes annually its prospectus and activity report.
Asked by: Baroness Pitkeathley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of children who have been moved from one parental residence to another, as a result of emotional harm or parental alienation findings in Family Court Proceedings.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Incidences of children who have been moved from one parental residence to another, as a result of findings of emotional harm, parental alienation or alienating behaviours in family court proceedings are not recorded centrally. Such information can only be obtained from individual case files at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Pitkeathley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what training magistrates and judges sitting in Family Courts receive on domestic abuse.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
To preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lord Chief Justice (LCJ), the Senior President of Tribunals, and the Chief Coroner have statutory responsibility for judicial training, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. These responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College.
Family judges and magistrates receive training on Domestic Abuse as part of induction training, which they must complete before they hear any cases, and in ongoing continuation training. Most recently, updated digital training was launched in Autumn 2021, and updated face-to-face training rolled out from April 2022. The content covers all areas recognised as abuse, ranging from serious sexual and other assaults and covering emotional abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour, including financial coercion and control, as well as the impact not just on survivors, but their children and wider family.
Asked by: Baroness Pitkeathley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits to employers and carer employees of introducing a statutory right to carers' leave; and what plans they have, if any, to introduce legislation conferring such a statutory right.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has consulted on proposals for a statutory right to carer’s leave, including the benefits for both employers and employees. The Government response to this consultation was published in September 2021 and included an assessment of the consultation findings.
The legislative programme for the next parliamentary session will be set out at the Queen’s Speech.
Asked by: Baroness Pitkeathley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of the recourse available through the family courts where a child has been abducted from the UK to an EU Member State which is not a party to the 1980 Hague Convention, now that the Brussels II Regulation no longer applies.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
Applications for the return of a child wrongfully removed or wrongfully retained away from the UK are made to the court in the country where the child has been taken or retained. All EU member states are party to the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention and the UK continues to operate the Convention with them through the Central Authorities which transmit applications. This position was not changed by the UK’s exit from the EU.
Asked by: Baroness Pitkeathley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to launch the consultation on care leave for employees who are also providing unpaid care for ill or disabled family members or friends.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The Government recognises the challenges of balancing work and care. Improving support for carers to do so is a key part of the action plan that the Government published in June 2018.
We continue to work with colleagues across Government to consider the question of dedicated employment rights for carers alongside existing employment rights (such as the right to request flexible working and the right to time off for family and dependants).
Asked by: Baroness Pitkeathley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures will be included in the NHS Long Term Plan to ensure that unpaid carers are (1) identified, and (2) offered support.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government is committed to supporting carers to provide care as they would wish, and to do so in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing and other life chances.
The Long Term Plan is currently in development and is due to be published later this year. The content of the plan has yet to be determined, but it is anticipated that plan will acknowledge the important role played by unpaid carers.
In addition, we set out our commitments to supporting carers in the short-term through the Carers Action Plan 2018-2020: Supporting carers today, published in June. The Plan includes commitments from across Government and the National Health Service. For example, the NHS England and the Care Quality Commission are working together to develop quality standards for general practitioner surgeries to demonstrate how effective they are in identifying and supporting carers. A copy of the Carers Action Plan is attached. We recognise that there is still more to do and that is why the forthcoming Adult Social Care Green Paper will include a focus on how society supports carers as a vital part of a sustainable health and social care system so that they are properly valued, recognised and supported to provide care in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Baroness Pitkeathley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made on their plans for setting up a new Regulator for Social Work.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government remains committed to the establishment of a new bespoke regulator for the social work profession. We are developing the secondary legislation needed to enable Social Work England to operate as the regulator and are intending to consult on that in early 2018. Alongside this, we are working with the current regulator (the Health and Care Professions Council) and the social work profession, to establish a timeline that will enable a safe transfer of regulatory functions to Social Work England.
This approach to establishing a timeline will ensure that a dynamic, responsive and outcomes focused regulator is created, while also enabling a smooth transfer from the current regulator.