Carers — House of Commons, 2016-06-09
Topic: Social Welfare
Alistair James Hendrie Burt (Conservative, Centre-right): I cannot make that specific commitment, but I understand fully the hon. Lady’s point. As I said before, the earnings limit and all the factors affecting it are kept constantly under review, but I am sure that Treasury colleagues will not have missed the remarks made today My hon. Friend the Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan) also made the point about carers not being a small minority. She commended Carers in Wiltshire, and I commend her for being a volunteer—another example of the experience we all bring to this debate—and she raised the important issue of entitlement to benefits and signposting. In our call for evidence as part of the review of the carers strategy, respondents raised the importance of people being directed towards the things they need as soon as possible. The moment someone becomes a carer, their world changes, and they need as much information as possible at that time. She was right to mention the importance of signposting in particular. She spoke with great passion on the subject The hon. Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Corri Wilson), who also spoke from personal experience, made a point about access to work. I shall talk about employment later, but she made her point strongly, and again she was not the only person to recognise that, although we all wish for a world in which burdens are shared equally, in truth they are not. Women carry the biggest burden when it comes to caring, and will probably continue to do so for some time. Recognising the extra pressures on women is particularly important. The hon. Lady made that point very well The hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Gavin Newlands) was particularly helpful in saying that although it is carers week for us, it is just another week for carers. I also liked it when he said that it was a week to talk "with", not "to" carers. That was a particularly well made point. He spoke forcefully about the reality of life—the sleepless nights and other issues that carers experience. My hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Huw Merriman) brought up the issue of care homes. I am not going to linger on that subject, but, as some colleagues know, I am particularly exercised about safety in care homes. It is my belief that someone in the care of the state, whether it be the NHS, local authorities or anyone else, needs to be as safe in a care home, a mental health institution or in learning disability facilities as they would be in an intensive care unit. As I expressed in yesterday’s debate about Southern Health, that is simply not the case I am very conscious of issues surrounding care homes. I have a round-table meeting on Monday with those responsible for the monitoring and regulation of care homes, and I pay tribute to the Care Quality Commission and others who are trying to do a good job of regulation, but this also involves some of the groups that are critical of regulation, want to see more done and want to ensure that there is safety in care homes. Some of the stories of abuse that we read about in the papers need to become fewer and fewer until they are extinct I want to praise the National Care Association because there are many good care homes, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle said. It is important to keep the right balance in recognising the quality of good homes without minimising the pressures on them. When things that should not be happening are going on, it is quite difficult to maintain that balance. I appreciate the fact that my hon. Friend mentioned this important issue. I commend, too, the ideas coming forward from the carers team in East Sussex, and I urge members to ensure that the ideas put to my hon. Friend will be put into our national call for evidence. They have until the end of this month to do so. I do not envisage a statutory instrument to extend that still further, should there be a rush of evidence at the end of the month, but we never know in the present circumstances. Getting that information in would be very helpful The hon. Member for South Antrim (Danny Kinahan) was not the only one to refer to the pressures on our own caseworkers, who do so much work to look after people in the House. I appreciated his mention of that point. He hoped that the carers strategy would be a long-term strategy. I hope it will, too. The strategy should be reviewed from time to time—this is the first review for two or three years—and that is certainly the aim. That is why I would like the strategy to look slightly beyond the immediate and consider how to build for the future rather than simply having a snapshot now My hon. Friend the Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon)—I call him my hon. Friend—is exceptionally generous and courteous to all Front-Bench Members when he speaks. I would like to tell him how much that is appreciated—it really is—when he is so genuine in expressing his views. He spoke of his personal experiences, pressures in Northern Ireland and the Crossroads young carers in Newtownards who particularly stressed the difficulties faced by young carers and the things that they often miss out on. My hon. Friend spoke about a singing group. A few weeks ago, I went to Biggleswade at the request of the Alzheimer’s Society to join a singing group, and I sang some songs with the people there. It was certainly an uplifting experience that morning. I commend those groups and the carers who work with them. The hon. Member for Central Ayrshire (Dr Whitford) made a considered and thoughtful contribution, as usual. She spoke about all the financial pressures. Particularly telling was her comment that although there are a relatively fixed number of carers and although it is steadily growing to 6.5 million, it is a replaceable 6.5 million and about a third leave for all sorts of reasons On bereaved carers, I was contacted through Twitter by someone in that position who asked whether the strategy and review would cover them, and I answered "Yes, it will and it should". The moment that caring for someone stops because of bereavement, the carer’s life has changed—perhaps in an anticipated way, but it is has still changed. Caring for people in those circumstances is really important. We must not forget this group, so I greatly appreciated what the hon. Lady said. She also spoke of the need to ensure that social care is seen as a profession as much as nursing and domiciliary care are throughout the NHS and elsewhere, and I thoroughly agree with her The hon. Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley), whose background in caring requires her to be listened to seriously every time she speaks about this issue, made a number of comments. I shall deal with the subject of finance a little later. Let me say first that I will ensure that the review that we are conducting will cover early identification in the NHS. We are trying to ensure that it takes place earlier and earlier. The issue of GP identification is very important, and I am pleased that the hon. Lady raised it again.