Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve support for carers.
Answered by Norman Lamb
Carers are central to the Government's reform of social care and support, with significant improvements in the Care Act which extends carers rights to an assessment which will be based on the appearance of a need for support. For the first time, local authorities will be required to meet carers' eligible needs for support.
We have provided £400 million to the National Health Service over four years from 2011 for carers to have breaks from their caring responsibilities. For 2015-16, the carers' breaks funding will be in the Better Care Fund.
We have also provided more than £2 million in recent years to the professional bodies such as the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Nursing, Carers UK and the Carers Trust to develop initiatives to raise early awareness of carers among healthcare professionals and to help identify and support carers. We have committed more than £1 million in 2014–15 to enable these organisations to build on this work and to develop new initiatives.
We set out our vision for transforming primary care in Transforming Primary Care: Safe, proactive, personalised care for those who need it most. It recognises the importance of involving and supporting carers and sets out a clear expectation for general practitioners to identify carers as a matter of course.
Carers are also central to the work that NHS England is leading to improve the quality of life of people with long term conditions. Their action plan, NHS England's Commitment to Carers includes a series of commitments around eight priorities, including raising the profile of carers.
Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department has spent on research for a cure for Type 1 diabetes in the last three years; and if he will take steps to increase such funding in the forthcoming financial year.
Answered by Lord Willetts
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is one of the seven Research Councils sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The MRC funds a broad portfolio of diabetes research which amounted to £24 million in 2012/13. Of this, £3.6 million (15%) is relevant to Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). This includes underpinning studies relevant to diabetes in general, as well as studies on the prevention, treatment and the downstream consequences of T1D. Expenditure on T1D research over the last five years is as follows:
Medical Research Council expenditure on Type 1 diabetes, 2008/9 to 2012/13
Year Expenditure
2008/09 £4.7m
2009/10 £3.7m
2010/11 £3.6m
2011/12 £4.0m
2012/13 £3.6m
Note: where a research project is related to both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, 100% of the project value has been included in the totals shown above.
The MRC does not routinely analyse expenditure on diabetes research beyond an analysis of T1D and Type 2 Diabetes research. However, details of all research supported by the MRC, including summaries describing the aims of the research and links to research publications and outputs can be found on the Research Council UK's Gateway to Research at: http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/.
The MRC does not normally allocate funds to particular topics but always welcomes high quality applications into any aspect of human health. All applications are judged in open competition and the primary considerations in funding decisions are scientific quality and importance to human health. In keeping with the Haldane principle, decisions on research priorities and funding are taken by the Research Councils based on advice from the scientific community through peer review.
The Technology Strategy Board spend on T1D in the last three years was £354,879.00. This relates to a project which ran in 2010/11.
Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support, advice, guidance and funding his Department makes available for children and adults diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Our overall aim is for all people with diabetes to have the right support to manage their condition, with access to specialist care when they need it. To help deliver this, NHS England has set out in “Action for Diabetes” how it will support improvements in outcomes for people with diabetes, focussing on earlier diagnosis of all diabetes, and support for people to manage their diabetes and so improve their quality of life.
In addition, NHS England has recently piloted a sample service specification for the management of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes based on the NICE Quality Standard for Diabetes with a number of clinical commissioning groups. This is a tool that commissioners can choose to use to deliver high quality care and offers a model for commissioning integrated care for those with diabetes. It highlights the specific care needs for those with Type 1 diabetes where they differ from those with Type 2 diabetes.
Also, the Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) makes a significant contribution to global research on Type 1 diabetes, in particular through its world-class research infrastructure. The NIHR Clinical Research Network is currently recruiting to 32 studies in Type 1 diabetes, in addition to 58 studies relevant to both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Expenditure by the NIHR on research on Type 1 diabetes through research programmes, research centres and units, and research training awards rose from £1.8 million in 2011-12 to an estimated £2.8 million in 2013-14.