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Mr. Boateng: Call me partisan, but it would have been nice to receive at least a word of recognition and thanks from the hon. Gentleman for the £496,000 of new money that we are giving his local authority to meet the needs of carers--money that it would not have had before.
However, the hon. Gentleman makes some serious points. We do regard the collection of information about carers' needs as a priority. Some 60 per cent. of carers have no contact with other agencies as carers. Many do not recognise themselves as carers. We must find new ways of reaching out to them, to ensure that they get their due. We are introducing a census question to give us a better handle on where carers are and what their needs are. That is a small, practical measure; why was it not taken years and years ago?
We do not intend to leave it at that. We intend the NHS and social services to work alongside the voluntary sector and with the private sector to present these issues, especially on carers and employment. We envisage that a promotional campaign on carers and employment, led by the Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment, my hon. Friend the Member for Barking (Ms Hodge), will make an important contribution to the initiative.
We are therefore not only making available new money, which is not, as the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Burstow) would suggest, inadequate, but ensuring that a raft of policies is put in place to meet carers' needs; even more important, we are ensuring that, as new policies are developed in this and other areas, carers' needs are at the heart of what we do, in addition to the needs of patients and users.
Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody (Crewe and Nantwich):
Is my hon. Friend aware that this is the first attempt in a targeted and vigorous manner to reverse years of neglect of carers, and, as such, it will be warmly welcomed by those who find themselves in that position? Tonight, many people will be very grateful to him and the Government for what he is trying to do. Will he, however, ensure that he does not follow a wholly unacceptable Tory practice? Will he pay careful attention to those carers who currently
Mr. Boateng:
I am much obliged to my hon. Friend. Of course she is right. We must ensure that we have the sort of professional interventions that are necessary to meet carers' needs, and we must recognise the value of partnership between the voluntary sector and the statutory sector. It is a question of ensuring that each contributes that which it is best equipped to give, and we shall ensure that that is done. We have also learnt from the voluntary sector that there exists, in the wider community, a degree of commitment to and wisdom about the practical needs of carers which we need to make better use of in the statutory sector. I promise my hon. Friend that this Government--her Government, our Government--intend to do so.
Sir Nicholas Lyell (North-East Bedfordshire):
Will the hon. Gentleman accept that we on the Opposition Benches strongly welcome all genuine extra support for carers, and that in so far as his statement provides it, we welcome it? However, before history is rewritten, will the hon. Gentleman be kind enough to write to me to confirm the many billions of pounds of extra money every year that were provided by the previous Government over 18 years? I remember vividly when I was a junior Minister with responsibilities for social security that by 1987 the sum had risen to an extra £6 billion a year for disabled people and their carers.
Will the hon. Gentleman confirm also that, taking the latest local authority settlement, Bedfordshire county council, for example, must find an extra £10 million worth of cuts before it begins because of the money moved away from counties such as Bedfordshire? What will the hon. Gentleman say to carers such as members of the Biggleswade carers society, who are deeply anxious, and rightly so, that there should be extra care with respite support? How often per year, per three years or per five can they expect some practical help from this extra money, which seems to come to less than £10 a year for a carer?
Mr. Boateng:
The right hon. and learned Gentleman seems to be suffering from a degree of amnesia in this area. It must be said in fairness that right hon. and hon. Members on the Opposition Benches singularly failed when they had the stewardship of our nation's affairs to give carers the focus that they are now being given. The right hon. and learned Gentleman must at least own up to that. I hope that he will point out to the good folk of Biggleswade in his constituency that they will benefit from an additional £836,000 that they would never have received had he continued to sit on the Treasury Bench--and for that they should be thankful.
Mr. Malcolm Wicks (Croydon, North):
This is an historic day for Britain's carers. It is a special and important day for 6 million people who provide care worth more than £30 billion. Does my hon. Friend agree with me that when he meets carers he is struck by their extraordinary sense of responsibility and duty and by the fact that for that they often pay a price in terms of extraordinary stress, poverty in old age and sometimes physical or mental breakdown?
Given that the great thing about the document produced by the team so ably led by my hon. Friend is its cross-departmental nature, will he nevertheless give heed to the work of Florence Nightingale, who once observed that reports are not self-implementing? Although there are good things in the report that are very specific, much of the rest of the document properly relies on aspirations, good practice and the rest.
Will my hon. Friend therefore consider, not necessarily today, how we can monitor this great comprehensive strategy so that this Parliament and carers can be certain, as Opposition Members have said perfectly properly, that good rhetoric is matched by good practice, as I expect it to be?
Mr. Boateng:
The whole House always listens closely to my hon. Friend on matters relating to carers, knowing full well his enormous contribution, in the form of private Members' legislation and subsequently, to their welfare. He makes an important point about the contribution of the entire ministerial team across government to the development of this strategy. I pay tribute to the members of that team and to their officials for the contribution that they have made.
I have no doubt that my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health, who will be carrying forward the strategy, will want to ensure that the commitment and drive are continued. There is no doubt about the commitment of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to carers' needs and concerns. My hon. Friend need have no fear; Florence Nightingale is an example to us all and the wick in her lamp will not be allowed to burn itself--[Laughter.] Well, it is a try. It will not be allowed to burn itself out. If it seems that it might, I have no doubt that my hon. Friend will be there to keep it alight.
Mrs. Angela Browning (Tiverton and Honiton):
Will the Minister recognise that, although he is right to say that a proper assessment of need throughout the country should be undertaken, in some parts of the country that process has already been taking place? Many carers have been at meetings, filled in forms and identified their needs.
Will the hon. Gentleman ensure that the resources that he has announced today are not sapped by yet more forms designed to ascertain what I am sure many social services departments already know but fail to deliver? Will he recognise that one of the greatest pressures on carers is applied if the needs of the people for whom they are caring are not appropriately met? Around the country, social services departments are making those people pay for services that they previously received free of charge. That will be a terrible pressure on the people who look after them.
Mr. Boateng:
The hon. Lady speaks with a great depth of knowledge and is respected in all parts of the House for her contribution to caring and carers. I am grateful for her remarks.
We must make sure that we get right the mechanisms for consultation with carers. That has not always been done as well as it ought to be. Part of our strategy for getting health and social services to work that much better together is to make sure, for instance, that the work being
done in relation to health improvement plans and the role of primary care groups and GPs is informed by carers' needs, concerns and opinions.
The hon. Lady is right. We need to improve consultation. We shall make sure that the additional resources being brought to bear on the problem are spent wisely and effectively, and that the spending is properly monitored. That is why I set great store by the new accreditation scheme mentioned in the national strategy. It will involve the voluntary sector in accrediting carers centres to make sure that the public get value for money. That is extremely important. I accept entirely the hon. Lady's point about the importance of consultation and the need to make sure that carers are central to it.
Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow):
I welcome what was said about young carers. Some of us, at our surgeries, are simply appalled by the pressures put on youngsters of12, 13 or 14 who have to undertake caring duties, often for single-parent families, that make the mind boggle. What is meant in the statement by the words:
The statement goes on:
"We shall encourage schools to make sure that there is someone to support them. That need not be a teacher--it could be someone else"?
Have there been discussions with the teaching unions about that?
"Children who are carers may need help to contact professionals in the health service, the social services, or a local project".
What will be done to help local authorities in this matter?
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