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Contributions to committees and inquiries (January- March 2023)

Centre for Care researcher Becky Driscoll provides an update on our recent contributions to government inquiries and committees, relevant to social care and unpaid carers.

UK Houses of Parliament at night time

The Centre for Care team have recently provided both written and oral evidence to a number of wide-ranging government consultations, parliamentary inquiries and public bodies on issues relevant to social care and unpaid carers:

  1. The House of Commons’ Health and Social Care Committee launched an inquiry into prevention in February, inviting proposals for specific issues that the inquiry should explore.
  1. The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) Statutory Review 2023, a comprehensive review of how Britain is performing on equality and human rights, undertaken every five years.

In March, our team submitted written evidence about: 

  • the living standards of unpaid carers, drawing on the work of Professor Sue Yeandle and Professor Matt Bennett; 
  • working conditions and the potential for exploitation in home care, based on Professor Shereen Hussein’s research, and the experiences of younger care workers based on Dr Duncan Fisher’s PhD; and
  • The impact of unmet need in adult social care, particularly on older people and unpaid carers, and the failure to implement the rights enshrined in the Care Act 2014.
  1. The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee launched an inquiry into digital exclusion and the cost of living in March.
  1. A House of Lords Select Committee has been appointed to consider the integration of primary and community care.
  • In March, Professor Sue Yeandle was invited to give oral evidence to the inquiry in its early stages. This was also featured on BBC Radio Sheffield during  the morning show news bulletins (click here to listen, at 1:01:39 and 3:01:53) and Sue was interviewed on the afternoon ‘drive time’ show (click here to listen, the interview is from 1.48-1.57). 
  • We also submitted written evidence to this inquiry, arguing for the importance of integration with social care as well as between health services.
Becky Driscoll
Becky Driscoll Researcher, University of Sheffield

About the author

Becky joined the Centre for Care in June 2022 as a Research Associate, working closely with Professor Sue Yeandle. Her role is to ensure that our research makes a difference to care policy, using our evidence to respond to parliamentary inquiries and government consultations across the four nations of the UK. This will include working closely with the team to gather evidence on critical and emerging issues in care, as well as synthesising the grey and academic literature and engaging with our partners in the care sector.

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