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 carers receive an assessment; if he will undertake a review of the (a) access to and (b) adequacy of carer's assessments; and what steps he has taken to ensure that recommendations from a carer's assessment are put in place.

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are required to undertake a Carer’s Assessment for any unpaid carer who appears to have a need for support and to meet their eligible needs on request from the carer.

The Health and Care Act 2022 includes provisions for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to assess the performance of local authorities’ delivery of their adult social care duties, as set out under part one of the Care Act 2014. The CQC have been engaging with local Government, the care sector and people with care and support needs to develop a framework for these assessments, including how to consider local authorities’ responsibilities to unpaid carers. We expect CQC assessment of local authorities to roll out from April 2023.