Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con): I do not intend to refer to the policy of the Director of Public Prosecutions in cases of encouraging or assisting suicide or to the report of the Commission on Assisted Dying because I note that my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon South (Richard Ottaway) has been given a debate by the Backbench Business Committee. Hopefully that debate, in which I suspect that many hon. Members present today will seek to catch Mr Speaker’s eye, will give us the opportunity to make our views known on those matters.

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much he has allocated to investment in carers services within the baseline allocations for primary care trusts in 2012-13; and how much he plans to allocate in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15. [87960]

As joint co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Carers, North Oxfordshire MP Tony Baldry has submitted evidence to the Government’s engagement exercise on the future of social care.

Following a letter to Sir Jonathan Michael, Chief Executive of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust regarding the possibility of setting up a work academy specifically for care workers, North Oxfordshire MP Tony Baldry has spoken out about his delight from the positive response he has received.

Following his letter to Paul Burstow MP, Minister of State for Care Services, Tony has now received a response.

Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con): I think everyone knows where we want to get to on palliative care. We want to provide those people who want it with a much better opportunity to die at home or to die in a hospice while being properly cared for and supported. How does my right hon. Friend see us getting from here to there? What process will be involved, and who is going to drive that process to improve palliative care?

Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con): The whole House owes the hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore) a great “thank you” for having secured this debate in carers week. As co-chair with Baroness Pitkeathley, who is in the other place, of the all-party group on carers, I am particularly glad to have the opportunity to take part in this debate.

I support Carers Week. Welfare reforms will affect carers. As co Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Carers, together with Jill Pitkeathley, we took up with the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, and Ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions, the importance of maintaining Carers’ Allowance as a separate allowance and that it should not be absorbed as part of the new proposed Universal Credit.

North Oxfordshire MP Tony Baldry has welcomed two significant decisions made by the Government in their welfare reform proposals.

Following his letter to Ministers regarding proposed changes to Carers Allowance, Tony has now received a response from Minister for Disabled People, Maria Miller MP.