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Carers

In that case, the situation is even worse because I used a link from a Government website. I had assumed that the helpline had not been established so I was delighted to find what I thought was the official website. Perhaps the Minister who winds up the debate will tell us when the hotline is to be established and what service we will be getting for the £3 million that has been allocated, but clearly not yet spent. As a society we have to start getting our heads around the problems and challenges. Caring is an emerging electoral issue. An ageing population means that 3 million extra carers will be needed by 2037, in addition to the 6 million at present. In many ways, the issue is hidden because carers do not have time to lobby. Finally, I again plug the book, ““The Selfish Pig’s Guide to Caring””, by Hugh Marriott, which shows clearly that carers do not express their feelings because they risk appearing uncaring. We need to encourage honesty in the debate. In a survey, when people were asked which words best expressed the experience of being a carer, 74 per cent. said ““stressful”” and 71 per cent. said ““demanding””. More heartening, 31 per cent. found caring rewarding and 20 per cent. found it fulfilling. In many ways I hope there will be no vote tonight. We need to change the habits of a lifetime and reach cross-party consensus to change those percentages and move the agenda forward.