Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the carer element of Universal Credit for unpaid carers, in the context of recent trends in the cost of living.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and State Pensions. The outcome of the Secretary of State’s review will be announced in the usual way.

No assessment has been made of the merit of increasing the carer element of Universal Credit outside of the annual review.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support unpaid carers in paid work.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

We are committed to ensuring carers are supported to balance work and caring responsibilities.

We know flexible working can be particularly valuable for carers, and the Employment Rights Bill will make flexible working available to all workers except where it is genuinely not feasible.

Employees have a right to five days of unpaid carers leave. We are reviewing implementation of this measure, and exploring ways to improve support for carers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Mental Health Bill will (a) protect and (b) enhance the rights of (i) children and (ii) young people who are (A) detained in and (B) admitted informally to mental health hospitals.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The forthcoming Mental Health Bill will strengthen the rights of children and young people, to ensure they are involved in decisions about their care, that they can challenge these decisions and, above all, ensure that they are only detained for treatment in hospital when it is absolutely necessary. NHS England is working to minimise the number of children and young people informally admitted to inpatient mental health care.

Subject to the passage of the Bill through Parliament, it is proposed that children and young people formally detained under the Mental Health Act will have statutory Care and Treatment Plans, the right to choose a ‘Nominated Person’ to look after their interests and expanded access to Independent Mental Health Advocates. The latter will also apply to voluntary patients who are not detained under the Act.