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1.51 pm
Mr. Edwards: I shall be brief. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member on Stalybridge and Hyde (Mr. Pendry) for all his work on the Bill. It has received all-party support and there has not been a Division throughout its progress.
The Bill is historic, redressing the balance by which the vast army of carers--thousands in every constituency--provide informal care for those whom they love. Often, even in our welfare state, that care has been provided without recognition, largely by women. It was regarded as part of the contractual duties of marriage, and married women and mothers provided care for disabled children, husbands, mothers, fathers or elderly relatives.
The Bill is important. My hon. Friend referred to the work of Lord Morris, who introduced the charter for the disabled, the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1972. The work of carers was not truly recognised until the 1970s. Once, at a conference, Professor Peter Townsend was told, "What you mean by care is care by women." Recognition has been slow of the incredible amount of care provided informally and sometimes at enormous cost. The Government, to their credit, have introduced the national carers strategy, in which the Prime Minister recognised his personal debt to carers in his own family. He also invited representatives of carers organisations to Downing street when he first came to office.
It has been a privilege to be associated with the passage of this important Bill. Some 10,000 carers in my constituency will be pleased that it has been passed, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde and everyone who has supported it.
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Mrs. Heal: I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Mr. Pendry) on successfully steering the Bill through its First and Second Readings, Committee Report and stages and now Third Reading. I welcome the amendments made today; they will help to clarify the Bill. We have had good discussions
across the parties, which have produced unanimity. The amendments bring not only greater clarity but more consistency to legislation for carers. That is especially important.The new clauses are significant; they put more decision making into the hands of carers. That, too, is of great importance. The amendment to clause 2 on agreement between the disabled person and the carer on service delivery decisions is especially relevant to the disabled person or the carer to whom the service is provided. It means that users will be able to shape their own lives. That is very much in the spirit of the report by Sir Roy Griffiths about a decade ago, in which he said that users should have that ability. He said that community care could not be properly achieved until carers were fully recognised and supported. The Bill, as amended, takes us closer to that aspiration.
I hope that my views will be shared by the many millions of carers and the representatives of carers organisations throughout the country. The Bill develops the aspirations of the national strategy for carers, which focuses on producing wider and better sources of information on the help and services available to carers.
Those of us who have been and are involved with carers--either professionally or as constituency Members--must never assume that carers know about the help and services available to them. Sadly, despite all the best efforts of many of the campaigning carers organisations, that is not the case. On a recent train journey, I met a friend--a former colleague who had retired. She had been the head of a sixth-form college and I assumed that she was enjoying her retirement. On that Monday, when she told me that she was looking forward to her day out, I am afraid that I assumed that it was only one of many days out that she was able to enjoy. However, during our conversation I discovered that it was a very special day for her--it was the first in 20 months that she had had any respite from caring for her husband, who had been a university lecturer but had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
One might have expected that my friend would have known of the existence of the services and support available to carers--or at least have known where to find that information. She is an extremely intelligent woman, who is well informed on many subjects, but she said, "I have to admit I did not know where to go." Sadly, her GP was not helpful and had neither given her information nor opened gateways for her to obtain it. Since her husband's diagnosis, she had coped for 24 hours a day--for nearly 20 months. They had looked forward to a pleasant retirement, but instead she had been under a tremendous strain during that time. She said that it was almost unbelievable when, by accident, she heard a radio programme that mentioned respite care.
Suddenly, my friend realised that there was a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. With great tenacity, she asked questions--perhaps becoming in the eyes of some professionals a bit of a nuisance--and pursued information about which services were available. Hence, she was delighted when, ultimately, some seven months later, she achieved her goal of one day out a week--one day's break, one day's rest from the strain and emotional and physical difficulty of caring for her husband.
I quote that example as just one of many. Many of my hon. Friends would be able to give others. The Carers National Association and other organisations that support carers will repeat that story over and again. I say that not in any way to denigrate their work, but to prove how difficult it is for carers to recognise what they are doing and then to obtain information from which they may access the support and services that they require.
Support for carers must come from the communities in which they live. Local authorities have that responsibility, and voluntary organisations have the responsibility to assist in that and to provide the support. The carers strategy talks of independence, partnership and empowering carers so that they may make choices about their lives. Those words have been echoed around this Chamber on numerous occasions today.
We are talking about carers being able to maintain their health and exercise their independence, so that their role can be recognised by policy makers and statutory service providers. Giving strong support to carers over service planning and provision will help to ensure that they become partners in the statutory provision of care. The Bill will contribute to all that.
I should like to mention briefly two groups of carers in particular who I think will benefit from the Bill. Working carers will certainly do so. From guidance on the Bill, carers could be given much vital flexibility that they and their families need either to take up part-time or even full-time work. So many people have given up work to care--perhaps as many as 50 per cent. of carers at the heavy end of caring. Many regret having done so; even if it is not possible to return to work, the Bill will give them far more options.
I am particularly pleased with the Government's amendments on the position of parent carers. The impact on parents with disabled children, certainly of direct payments and of the entitlement to an assessment in their own right, will be particularly welcome. With direct payments, they will be able to decide what is best for their child, as every parent wishes. They will be able to engage one person who is trusted and known to provide a range of support for the child. It is of course easier for a child to build a relationship with one person.
Parent carers of disabled children want the flexibility to ensure that the services that they require are provided at their convenience, rather than that of the service provider. Direct payments for parent carers will enable them to arrange their services, fitting them around their family's life style. As the young person grows up, such payments will provide extra support so that, with help, the child can join in mainstream activities with other children. It makes much more sense.
Disabled people have called for direct payments for years. They have largely welcomed their introduction and called for their extension. I am delighted that the Bill extends the principle yet further to parents of disabled children and other carers. That will hugely benefit disabled people aged 16 and 17--again, I have a word of caution--as long as the right safeguards are introduced, as the Minister said in Committee he intended to do through guidance.
The Bill, as amended, will certainly present a new challenge to many, and that challenge is implementation. The Bill has still to pass through all its stages but, as we discuss the Bill, we must think about how it will be
implemented. I am delighted that my hon. Friend the Minister is keen to provide more information for carers about their rights--a commitment given in Committee. That is exactly what is needed and should have been provided when the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 was introduced. We now have the benefit of experience and can do things differently as they move into line with the spirit of the Bill.As we have said, carers needs are diverse. As individuals, they have their own particular needs and their own reasons for providing care or ending the caring role. However, they have a number of common factors. The first is always concern for the well-being of the person for whom they care. They also need emotional support and relief from isolation for themselves. The receipt of reliable and satisfactory services and information on, and recognition of, their role and contribution can all work well in supporting carers.
Let us stop for a minute and consider the definition of the word "support". It has been used a great deal in the debate. I looked in the dictionary and found three definitions of the word. First, it means to carry all or part of the weight and to keep from falling, sinking or failing. Secondly, it means to provide with a home and the necessities of life, and thirdly, it means to enable, to last out, to give strength or to encourage. I sincerely hope that, in our deliberations on the Bill, we have gone some way towards giving carers real support, building on the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 and taking it forward.
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