Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures will be included in the NHS Long Term Plan to ensure that unpaid carers are (1) identified, and (2) offered support.

The Government is committed to supporting carers to provide care as they would wish, and to do so in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing and other life chances.

The Long Term Plan is currently in development and is due to be published later this year. The content of the plan has yet to be determined, but it is anticipated that plan will acknowledge the important role played by unpaid carers.

In addition, we set out our commitments to supporting carers in the short-term through the Carers Action Plan 2018-2020: Supporting carers today, published in June. The Plan includes commitments from across Government and the National Health Service. For example, the NHS England and the Care Quality Commission are working together to develop quality standards for general practitioner surgeries to demonstrate how effective they are in identifying and supporting carers. A copy of the Carers Action Plan is attached. We recognise that there is still more to do and that is why the forthcoming Adult Social Care Green Paper will include a focus on how society supports carers as a vital part of a sustainable health and social care system so that they are properly valued, recognised and supported to provide care in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing.