Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Prime Minister's press release of 18 August 2014, what steps he is taking to assess the impact of his Department's policies on the family.

The Family Test was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014 through the publication of guidance for officials - Family Test Guidance.

The objective of the Test is to introduce a family perspective to the policy making process, specifically to make the potential impacts on family functioning and relationships explicit.

The Department is working to raise awareness of the Family Test amongst its policy staff, so that the impact of policy on the family is considered as a matter of course. The Family Test is highlighted in policy induction training, which is available to staff who are new to policy roles in the Department. The Family Test is also highlighted through the PolicyKit, an online resource for the Department’s policy officials.