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Mr. Burstow: The Minister is making an important point, which I endorse, about such recognition being incorporated in social workers' training. Does he agree that it is important that other professionals, especially those in the primary care team such as GPs, district nurses and health visitors, have such training and are tasked to do what he says? Perhaps he will answer the question that I asked earlier about whether the 2002 target for GPs to recognise carers has been met, or where we have got to with that.
Dr. Ladyman: The hon. Gentleman is right to suggest that training must extend across more professions than just social workers. It has to go right across the health service and include primary care trusts, health visitors and school nurses, for example. We can do a huge amount. Of course we are moving forward with the Green Paper, "Every Child Matters", and we must train people to ensure that we spot children who are carers—a subject that I shall return to in a moment.
It would probably not be a good idea for me to try to respond off the cuff to the specific question about the target, but I will write to the hon. Gentleman and put a copy of the letter in the Library so that everyone else knows exactly what progress has been made.
Mr. Caton: I am very interested in the concept of the cost-benefit analysis. Will my hon. Friend assure us that the analysis will be conducted as holistically as possible, rather than on a departmental basis. I agree with colleagues who do not foresee the Bill producing any extra cost. However, if the Government identify that there might be extra costs, either at local government or departmental level, will he weigh them against the benefits, perhaps in health terms, of getting people off some benefits and into employment?
Dr. Ladyman: My hon. Friend is right to suggest that such things need to be looked at holistically. We must
put into practice many of the notions of joined-up government that we all too often enjoy talking about, and we must ensure that those principles apply to our analysis of the benefits.
Mr. David: I thank my hon. Friend for his generosity in giving way again. I want to ask him a specific question before he moves on to other points. Reference has been made to the Scottish model, and it is important, in this post-devolution situation, to learn lessons from north of the border, but we will he give a commitment to the House to publish a short paper, summarising what has happened in Scotland and highlighting the lessons to be learned?
Dr. Ladyman: I do not know whether I can commit to produce a paper about what has happened in Scotland. I should have to ask my colleagues in the Scottish Executive whether they would be prepared to do that—it would be presumptuous of me to write a paper about their experience—but I am certainly happy to share with colleagues, especially those who may serve on the Standing Committee, what information we gather about the Scottish experience.
My hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Ms Shipley) said that the carers grant will no longer be ring-fenced for next year. The ring fence will be removed for next year, but it is still a targeted grant. A very explicit memo explains to councils what the carers grant is intended to do, and we will back that up with inspections of councils to ensure that carers are still being cared for.
I have a confession to make. As many hon. Members will know, I have occasional Stalinist tendencies, and I worried very greatly about whether it was a good idea to reduce the ring fence for exactly the reason mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge. I asked myself whether carers would not get the money that they were supposed to get in future; but, in the end, I concluded that the change was necessary if we are to trust local government, if we believe in localism and if we believe that it is right for local government to make decisions based on local priorities.
We recognise the fact that local government may be able to help carers in various ways at different costs, according to their local circumstances, and it is important that we put that trust into action and give them the freedom that they need to act on their own behalf. I think that, on balance, it was right to remove the ring fence, and we will wait with interest to discover what impact that will have, but I am confident from the discussions that I have had and the clarity of the targeting that carers will still be fully supported by the Government.
Hon. Members will know that the carers grant started in 1999–2000 at £20 million. It has risen to £50 million, £70 million and £85 million, and it is £100 million this year. It will be £125 million next year and £185 million the year after that. In 2002–03, the grant—it was £85 million in that year—provided no fewer than 2,140,632 breaks for 143,231 carers. Of those who benefited from the breaks, 49,694 carers were supported with breaks by children's services—that included young carers—and 93,537 carers of adults benefited. Some 31,082 carers also received services other than breaks.
Additionally, of course, we have the short break voucher scheme, which helps disabled people and their carers by delivering a service that offers flexibility in the timing of breaks and a choice of how support is provided. It gives service users and their carers an alternative to direct payment, which requires more administration and management on their part. I hope that hon. Members who mentioned ring-fencing will be reassured that significant extra money is going into the carers grant. It is still our intention that the money be spent on carers, but local councils will have the flexibility to decide exactly how to implement the system.
Several hon. Members raised the important matter of information, including my hon. Friends the Members for Ilford, North (Linda Perham) and for Kingswood, and the hon. Members for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Burstow) and for Tiverton and Honiton. The Government continue to work with voluntary organisations and local authorities to ensure that the provision of appropriate and up-to-date information for carers is available in a variety of formats. The Department of Health is currently funding several projects through section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 to support the provision of information for carers. They include the Carers UK helpline, which is known as Carers Line, and carers online, which is the roll-out of standards for local information throughout the country. Ring Around Carers is a project that reaches out to hidden carers by using the power of local radio to help people to identify themselves as carers and then uses telephone conferencing as a way to bring carers together to discuss their experiences. That is especially interesting in the light of comments made by the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton. She said that carers often do not identify themselves as carers, so the project is one way of helping them to do that. Start Here is a project that is designed to provide accessible touch-screen information to people who need services and carers about a wide range of health and community services.
The Government have a dedicated carers' website at www.carers.gov.uk, which was launched in 2000 to provide a central point for information and signposting to relevant services. It now includes a discussion forum to enable statutory authorities to exchange information on best practice and innovation in carers' services. The Department of Health is closely involved with the office of the e-envoy in the development of the online government store, which will have a dedicated carers area that will create a one-stop shop for carers. Although the points that carers do not get the information that they need were well made—we shall come on to how we may improve that through the Bill shortly—I hope that hon. Members accept that we are doing some things to ensure that information is available and that we are trying to spread that information as widely as possible.
My hon. Friends the Members for Hendon (Mr. Dismore), for Lancaster and Wyre (Mr. Dawson) and for Stourbridge, and others, mentioned young carers, and it is important to take account of them.
My hon. Friend the Member for Aberavon correctly explained that the Bill focuses on carers of 16-plus. It is important to ensure that private Members' Bills are focused. If they try to do too much they will never make
progress. That is not to say that the subject is not important, and the Government and the House will need to consider it further. I remind hon. Members that although carers' assessments apply only to 16-plus carers, a young carer can be considered as a child in need. Social workers assessing adults should be aware of the possibility that children in the house may be providing informal care and should take their needs into account.The national strategy for carers sets down specific commitments to improve support for young carers, including improving the education of GPs, primary health care teams and social workers on the needs of young carers. Under the quality protects programme, the Government framework for the assessment of children in need and their families, published in 2000, indicates that young carers should not be expected to carry out inappropriate levels of caring, which have an adverse impact on their development and life chances. Services should be provided to promote the health and development of young carers while not undermining the parent. It is important to remember that such assessments are not optional for social services.
As part of a section 64 project, the Department of Health has funded the Children's Society to develop the young carers initiative. The key outcomes of the project are to consult young carers directly about their views and needs relating to current legislation and guidance, and, following that consultation, to develop a database and website strategy and to produce a practice guide and resource pack. We are also working with Connexions to help 13 to 19-year-olds and with other organisations to improve the range of services for young carers.
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