Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Wait 45 policy for ambulance wait times, including on corridor care and patients being looked after in sub-optimal areas.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England continues to regularly monitor trust performance.
We are tackling unacceptable ambulance handover delays by introducing a maximum 45-minute standard, supporting the quicker release of ambulances, helping them get back on the road to treat patients. These delays should be recognised as a system wide responsibility and effective collaboration between ambulance services, acute trusts, integrated care boards, and other providers is required.
Nationally, we have seen average handover delays fall to 31 minutes 19 seconds in October compared to 40 minutes 20 seconds in October 2024. This reflects the improvements in Category 2 response times to 32 minutes 37 seconds from 42 minutes 15 seconds over the same time period.
We are also committed to ending corridor care. When Release to Rescue is implemented, ambulance trusts must put in place robust patient protection measures. Patients should only be cared for in temporary escalation spaces when all other options are exhausted, and this must not become standard practice.
Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan set out steps we are taking to improve accident and emergency waiting times, including the commitment to publish data on the prevalence of corridor care. The data quality is currently being reviewed, and the information will be published shortly.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of patients in Torbay NHS Foundation Trust who had no criteria to reside but who were not discharged by the end of the day and (b) what proportion of acute day beds this entails in each of the last seven days.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on the daily number of patients who no longer meet the criteria to reside is published monthly by NHS England, and is available at the following link:
In addition, monthly average figures for the number of general and acute beds are published by NHS England, and are available at the following link:
For the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, there were on average 34 adult patients each day in October 2025 who had no criteria to reside but who were not discharged by the end of the day.
The following table shows the proportion of acute beds occupied by patients with no criteria to reside but who had not been discharged for the last seven days of October 2025, during which time there were an average of 385 adult general and acute beds available, for the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust:
Date | Number of patients remaining in hospital who no longer meet criteria to reside | Proportion of adult general and acute beds occupied by patients with no criteria to reside |
25/10/2025 | 29 | 8% |
26/10/2025 | 27 | 7% |
27/10/2025 | 37 | 10% |
28/10/2025 | 31 | 8% |
29/10/2025 | 34 | 9% |
30/10/2025 | 39 | 10% |
31/10/2025 | 33 | 9% |
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of the Better Care Fund will be spent on supporting unpaid family carers in the 2025-26 financial year; and how much was provided for (a) short breaks and (b) respite for carers in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan and the 2025/26 Better Care Fund policy framework, we will reform the Better Care Fund from financial year 2026/27. An announcement with further detail on this reform will be made in due course. The reform will not impact on the level of funding intended to support unpaid carers in future financial years.
In 2025/26, health and wellbeing boards were asked what the primary objective of each scheme was. In England, £222,515,273 was allocated to schemes with the primary objective of supporting unpaid carers. Primary objectives were not requested in previous years for comparison.
Health and wellbeing boards are also asked to record information on scheme types. The most appropriate scheme type in 2025/26 was support to carers, including unpaid carers, which has a planned spend of £201,223,000. In previous years, the most appropriate scheme type was carers services. The following table shows the total planned spend on carers services for 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25:
Year | Total planned spend on carers services |
2022/23 | £156,863,008 |
2023/24 | £211,660,371 |
2024/25 | £216,884,174 |
There are no sub types for planned spend on unpaid family carers or short breaks. In 2022/23, £86,394,455, or 55%, of the total planned spend on carers services was spent on the sub type respite.
Information on scheme types for carers broken down by health and wellbeing board has been published and is available for the year 2025/26 and for the years 2023 to 2025, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/better-care-fund-2025-26-planning-data/
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/better-care-fund-2023-to-2025-planning-data/
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much Better Care Fund funding has been provided to each health and wellbeing board to support unpaid carers in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan and the 2025/26 Better Care Fund policy framework, we will reform the Better Care Fund from financial year 2026/27. An announcement with further detail on this reform will be made in due course. The reform will not impact on the level of funding intended to support unpaid carers in future financial years.
In 2025/26, health and wellbeing boards were asked what the primary objective of each scheme was. In England, £222,515,273 was allocated to schemes with the primary objective of supporting unpaid carers. Primary objectives were not requested in previous years for comparison.
Health and wellbeing boards are also asked to record information on scheme types. The most appropriate scheme type in 2025/26 was support to carers, including unpaid carers, which has a planned spend of £201,223,000. In previous years, the most appropriate scheme type was carers services. The following table shows the total planned spend on carers services for 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25:
Year | Total planned spend on carers services |
2022/23 | £156,863,008 |
2023/24 | £211,660,371 |
2024/25 | £216,884,174 |
There are no sub types for planned spend on unpaid family carers or short breaks. In 2022/23, £86,394,455, or 55%, of the total planned spend on carers services was spent on the sub type respite.
Information on scheme types for carers broken down by health and wellbeing board has been published and is available for the year 2025/26 and for the years 2023 to 2025, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/better-care-fund-2025-26-planning-data/
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/better-care-fund-2023-to-2025-planning-data/
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what was the cost to the public purse of supporting unpaid carers in England through the Better Care Fund in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan and the 2025/26 Better Care Fund policy framework, we will reform the Better Care Fund from financial year 2026/27. An announcement with further detail on this reform will be made in due course. The reform will not impact on the level of funding intended to support unpaid carers in future financial years.
In 2025/26, health and wellbeing boards were asked what the primary objective of each scheme was. In England, £222,515,273 was allocated to schemes with the primary objective of supporting unpaid carers. Primary objectives were not requested in previous years for comparison.
Health and wellbeing boards are also asked to record information on scheme types. The most appropriate scheme type in 2025/26 was support to carers, including unpaid carers, which has a planned spend of £201,223,000. In previous years, the most appropriate scheme type was carers services. The following table shows the total planned spend on carers services for 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25:
Year | Total planned spend on carers services |
2022/23 | £156,863,008 |
2023/24 | £211,660,371 |
2024/25 | £216,884,174 |
There are no sub types for planned spend on unpaid family carers or short breaks. In 2022/23, £86,394,455, or 55%, of the total planned spend on carers services was spent on the sub type respite.
Information on scheme types for carers broken down by health and wellbeing board has been published and is available for the year 2025/26 and for the years 2023 to 2025, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/better-care-fund-2025-26-planning-data/
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/better-care-fund-2023-to-2025-planning-data/
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's plan Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, whether the plans to reform the Better Care Fund will impact on the level of funding intended to support unpaid carers in future financial years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan and the 2025/26 Better Care Fund policy framework, we will reform the Better Care Fund from financial year 2026/27. An announcement with further detail on this reform will be made in due course. The reform will not impact on the level of funding intended to support unpaid carers in future financial years.
In 2025/26, health and wellbeing boards were asked what the primary objective of each scheme was. In England, £222,515,273 was allocated to schemes with the primary objective of supporting unpaid carers. Primary objectives were not requested in previous years for comparison.
Health and wellbeing boards are also asked to record information on scheme types. The most appropriate scheme type in 2025/26 was support to carers, including unpaid carers, which has a planned spend of £201,223,000. In previous years, the most appropriate scheme type was carers services. The following table shows the total planned spend on carers services for 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25:
Year | Total planned spend on carers services |
2022/23 | £156,863,008 |
2023/24 | £211,660,371 |
2024/25 | £216,884,174 |
There are no sub types for planned spend on unpaid family carers or short breaks. In 2022/23, £86,394,455, or 55%, of the total planned spend on carers services was spent on the sub type respite.
Information on scheme types for carers broken down by health and wellbeing board has been published and is available for the year 2025/26 and for the years 2023 to 2025, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/better-care-fund-2025-26-planning-data/
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/better-care-fund-2023-to-2025-planning-data/
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
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.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
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.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's plan Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, when he plans to publish more information about the intended reforms to the Better Care Fund.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan and in the 2025/26 Better Care Fund policy framework, we will reform the Better Care Fund from the 2026/27 financial year. An announcement with further detail on this reform will be made in due course.