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Carers

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, and I shall return briefly to that subject later in my comments. Older carers often have to change jobs. The survey that I mentioned said that 57 per cent. felt less able to focus on a career, and respondents also quoted reduced promotion prospects and the fact that they were unable to take up training opportunities. Some 40 per cent. found it difficult to get back on the job ladder when returning to work. When asked how their working life could be made easier, one fifth felt that they needed greater support from their boss, and 18 per cent. more understanding from colleagues. Again, access to carers advice came up during that part of the survey. There is a need to ensure that the way in which companies structure their training programmes does not discriminate against carers. Often, companies’ work practices are assessed for gender, and parental provision is also taken care of. It is also important to note that 80 per cent. of carers are of working age, and 3 million already combine work and care. Advice needs to be made available to them so that they can perhaps change their career slightly, or learn how to suggest alternative working practices to their employers. Of those people who were not working because of their caring responsibilities, one third said that they would return if the right alternative care and flexible support were available. The peak age for caring is 45 to 64 years old, and the cost of replacing the expertise of a worker of that age is immense. Flexible working is one way forward, and I recognise the Government’s efforts in that direction, but many companies still enshrine the old ways of working, and I do not think that quite enough has been done to encourage companies regarding the way forward. At a recent meeting with BT, I learned that 75 per cent. of its work force were flexible workers. The company decided that it would be resented if flexible working was available only to parents or carers, so the same provision was offered to everybody. As a result, BT has identified average productivity gains of 21 per cent., cost savings, increased customer satisfaction, increased creativity and energy and—no surprise—a decrease in sick leave. To introduce a green theme to the debate, BT calculated that it had saved 12 million litres of fuel. Flexible working is good for people and good for the environment so I hope more will be done to encourage other companies to follow those who have successfully adopted those practices. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke) mentioned young carers; there are 175,000 in the UK, 13,000 of whom care for more than 50 hours a week. In 1999, the national carers strategy made a number of proposals to improve recognition and support for young carers, but unfortunately only 18 per cent. of young carers actually receive an assessment of their needs. I am sure Ministers agree that the problem urgently needs to be addressed. Sometimes, there is a family decision not to seek support, so more work needs to be done with families to reassure them that if social services are aware of the problems they will not take the children away and break up the family, as that may be a concern. Sometimes, however, lack of support is simply indicative of a failing system. There is often poor awareness in schools. Teachers may tell a child off for not doing their homework or for being late, when the situation may have been prompted by the child’s caring responsibilities. Such an approach does not encourage school attendance. Last week, in the debate in Westminster Hall, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole recommended a whole-family approach—a point echoed by the Minister in his speech. My hon. Friend welcomed more joined-up thinking between adult and children’s services, because they are all part of support for the family. The system may fall down because a parent who needs support during the night may not meet the criteria for adult social services, yet in practice there is a huge impact on the child who may have to get up every night to undertake caring responsibilities. The Government have greatly progressed the agenda. Mention was made earlier of the carers hotline. I rang the hotline because I thought it was such a good idea—as the Minister said, people want access to advice when they actually need it—so I was a little surprised to hear a recorded message:"““This hotline is only available Wednesday and Thursday between the hours of 10 to 12 or 2 to 4.””" At other times, people are merely sent a package of information.