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Carers

The debate has been short, but concise and of high quality. It is a shame that more of the hon. Members who were present earlier for the Iraq debate were not in the Chamber to listen to the excellent representations that have been made. We are debating not an instant, but an ongoing experience for many millions of our constituents. The hon. Member for Northampton, North (Ms Keeble) made a good point when she reinforced the consensus against bureaucracy and flagged up the caring responsibilities of many grandparents. My hon. Friend the Member for Rugby and Kenilworth (Jeremy Wright) made a powerful demographic point about the ageing population. Representing a constituency like Worthing, I know about old carers, many of them well into their seventies, if not more, looking after even older charges. My hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark) made a pertinent point about the particular challenges facing Alzheimer’s sufferers. As somebody who has a large Alzheimer’s Society branch in my constituency, I applaud the excellent support that it provides to carers. We have people in their mid-thirties now with Alzheimer’s—not only are instances of the disease increasing, but it is affecting younger people. I will not repeat the comments that have been made about the number of carers—6 million, or one in 10 adults—or the cost to the state that is being saved. Some 20 per cent. of young carers look after parents or family members with a mental health problem. We are discussing not just physical disabilities. I shall focus my comments on young carers, because we have so far talked mostly about older carers. I welcome the legislation that has been introduced over recent years, and some of the Government’s strategy, but still too many young carers tell us that they are not getting the help and support that they need—an awful lot of warm words, but not enough firm action. Surely our responsibility as parliamentarians and the responsibility of the Government should be to do everything we can to remove the obstacles to caring and to make the job of carers much easier because they do the nation an enormous service. We need to make their access and entitlement to information much easier so that they do not have to spend so much of their time hunting for it. We must make the paperwork simpler and shorter. My hon. Friend the Member for South-West Surrey (Mr. Hunt) cited horrendous figures to illustrate the complexities of the benefits system. We must increase the availability of respite care and offer flexible respite care that can also be provided in the homes of the people being cared for. It is not just a question of sending somebody to a residential home. A little break can give a big boost to carers who have onerous responsibilities day in, day out. Above all, we must recognise and value the contributions of carers and provide flexibility. Caring is not a constant—the condition of a person who has a disability can go up and down so we need long-term and sustainable strategies. That is why, at the last election, we had in our manifesto certain commitments that would recognise the vital role played by informal carers. I said that I would concentrate on the role of the 175,000 young carers—2 per cent. of children overall, including 18,000 children under the age of 15. That was starkly brought home last month when the Princess Royal Trust for Carers raised the case of Deanne Asamoah, the 13-year-old who died from a morphine overdose after caring for her terminally ill mother for four years, and the pressures of caring that brought her to that tragic end to her own life. Some 250,000 children in the United Kingdom live with a parent who engages in some form of substance misuse, and they often end up as carers as well. The ““Hidden Lives”” report produced last year by Barnado’s shows that some young carers can go for years without requesting help. They are often excluded from medical discussions. One of the things that young carers mentioned to us is that when they are effectively providing nursing support to a family member, the doctor will exclude them from discussions, yet they are vital to providing that care and undertaking big responsibilities such as administering the drugs that may be prescribed. They suffer at school, and their social life and their health suffer. That is why I am glad that so many hon. Members mentioned the effect on carers themselves, not just the mechanics of caring for people with disabilities. I echo the tributes that have been paid to organisations such as Barnado’s, the Princess Royal Trust for Carers, the Children’s Society’s young carers initiative, NCH and Crossroads, and particularly to Jenny Frank, the programme manager at the Children’s Society, who every year organises the young carers festival, which I have attended for most of the seven years that it has been held in Southampton, together with the hon. Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke). Some years ago, at their own behest, they organised a parliamentary question time and invited MPs to go down there to answer questions. They invited us to go down again to report on the progress that has been made. I always feel slightly guilty at the lack of progress for young carers in too many cases, despite the warm words of many of us. That festival, Madam Deputy Speaker—I know that you have your own interest in it—is a truly remarkable event. I defy anybody who goes there not to be overwhelmed by the enormous dedication of and sacrifices made by young people, many of whom are very young indeed. On 18 April this year, many of them came to Portcullis House, where I chaired a session with them in which they could, face to face with parliamentarians, give their checklist of the things that they wanted to happen to make their job easier. Let me quote some of the comments from that event and from previous young carers festivals. The things that they wanted to say to social services included:"““I want someone to teach me to cook proper meals for my mum when she’s ill, not scrap meals.””""““I want someone to be there when needed and when things get out of hand.””""““To answer and return phone calls, and actually be on time and friendly and talk to me not just my parents.””""““If they’re not going to help they should say so straightaway.””" Things that they wanted to say to their teachers included:"““We cannot always manage our time to do homework and often it is necessary to miss school and so we fall behind, but it is NOT our fault.””""““We might be tired because we’ve been busy at home.””""““We might need time to have FUN!””" I could repeat such comments from all the other events that we have attended. Many young carers get into problems at school through no fault of their own. The cycle of truancy that can result can often be as follows. A child takes on a caring role and gets behind with work. They are late for school because they are looking after younger brothers and sisters, or they miss days when their family member is unwell. They are afraid of giving the real reasons, so they make up unconvincing excuses. They get detentions after school but cannot attend them because they have to get home. That leads to more trouble and worsening relationships with teachers, and it starts to become easier to stay at home where they feel valued. They miss out on their education, on their social life, and on their good health, which often means that they miss out on the career prospects that go with them. What is needed for young carers is not rocket science. They tell us that they need continuity of funding for young carers’ projects so that they do not start and then stop because the money has run out. They need good projects such as the Brighton young carers outreach project. They need respite to be available and to be able to have a social life. They need to be able to get together with other young carers. They need to know where to go for help and to be able to get it without struggling. They need to be included in health decisions about their charges. Above all, they need understanding and flexibility at school, with a nominated teacher who appreciates the problems that go with caring. We need to look after the health, career and development of our young carers, not just the people they look after, and the same goes for adults. The state should be on their side and at their side, not in their way. We owe these people a debt of gratitude, and we owe it to them to make their job easier.