Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the evaluation commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care Research on support for unpaid carers funded through the Better Care Fund undertaken in 2023-24.

The Department funds independent research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). This project is funded through the NIHR Policy Research Programme.

The research undertaken in 2023/24 was a development phase, which is the preparatory stage for a larger research project, with findings available at the following link:

https://www.lse.ac.uk/cpec/assets/documents/CPEC-Briefing-Note-2-Support-for-unpaid-carers.pdf

The second phase of the evaluation is ongoing. Findings from the second phase will be made publicly available after research is completed in July 2028.

The publication of research is led by the research team and in line with NIHR commitments to the transparent and independent publication of high-quality research. The views expressed in research outputs are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department.