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 effectiveness of the Accelerating Reform Fund in innovating the social care sector.

The Accelerating Reform Fund (ARF) aims to address barriers to the adoption and scaling of innovation in adult social care and improve support for unpaid carers. Local authorities are supported to take forward locally identified innovative projects, working collaboratively with other local authorities, the National Health Service, care providers, and voluntary and community organisations in their integrated care system footprints.

An independent national evaluation by Ipsos aims to improve the evidence base on the impact of funded innovations, as well as assessing the success of the fund in overcoming barriers to, and creating the conditions for, innovation.

Emerging evidence suggests the ARF is encouraging more innovative activities in adult social care. The evaluation will continue to assess the effectiveness of the ARF through the lifecycle of the fund, concluding in June 2025.