Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of provision of Carers' Assessments for unpaid carers of people with severe mental illness; and whether she plans to introduce dedicated or ring-fenced funding to enable local authorities to provide timely Carers' Assessments and support identified through those assessments.

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a duty to assess the needs of an unpaid carer where it appears that the carer may have needs for support. Where eligible needs are identified, local authorities must consider how those needs can be met and must prepare a support plan where appropriate.

Local authorities are responsible for determining how best to use the funding available to them to meet their statutory duties, including duties relating to carers.

The Government has made over £4.6 billion additional funding available for adult social care in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26.