Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent estimate he has made of the hours spent by (a) adult carers and (b) young carers in providing unpaid care in (i) England, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Wales and (iv) Northern Ireland.

The Department uses a range of publicly available data to inform its understanding of informal care, including:

- The United Kingdom 2011 Census asked about provision of unpaid care by age and number of hours provided. Separate data is available for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

- The UK Family Resources Survey provides a breakdown by age, gender and hours of care provided. Separate data is available for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

- The Health Survey for England 2014 provides details of hours of care provided, with a breakdown by age and gender. Data is also included on the types of caring task undertaken.

- The Personal Social Services Survey of Adult Carers in England 2014-15 surveys those carers known to local authorities in England, and includes data on the support needs of the person being cared for. Data is also included on the types of caring task undertaken.

- The Survey of Carers in Households 2009-10 includes some details of the support needs of the person being cared for, with some additional information on hours of care provided.

- The Office for National Statistics Household Satellite Accounts includes a specific module on the economic value of informal adult care. Separate data is available for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In addition, the Department is currently leading the development of a new cross-Government Carers Strategy, due for publication in 2017. To inform this, the Department has recently undertaken a wide ranging Call for Evidence to gather the views and experiences of carers and other stakeholders, and to supplement the significant amount of publicly available data. This included asking carers directly about their caring roles and experiences, including the impact on their finances, and any health need or disability they may have that affects their caring role.

The Call for Evidence also included new research commissioned by the Department from the Economics of Social Care and Health Research Unit to estimate the future demand for informal care, and the likely availability of informal care in England. This research will supplement existing data from previous work by the Personal Social Services Research Unit.

Alongside the Call for Evidence, the Department for Education has commissioned new research to improve understanding of the numbers and needs of young carers and their families, carried out by TNS BMRB Research in partnership with Loughborough University. This research includes a qualitative strand, entitled ‘The Lives of Young Carers in England’ published in February 2016; and quantitative work to be published before the end of this year that will provide information on the nature of the care and support that young carers are providing; the perceived impact of caring responsibilities on physical and mental health, education and development; and the types of support that young carers receive.

The Department of Health is currently working with stakeholders to develop the new Carers Strategy. This will set out the findings from the Call for Evidence, and the priorities and actions contained in the Strategy will therefore be based on an assessment of this wide evidence base as well as the range of published qualitative evidence of the issues of most concern to carers.