Hansard

I am pleased to make Labour’s final contribution to this debate on the carers and young carers strategies. It has been an excellent debate, with good contributions from all speakers. I apologise in advance if I do not refer to everyone’s speeches individually, which is because of the pressures of time—I do not want to give the Presiding Officer yet another opportunity to tick me off.

One of the first cross-party groups that I joined on becoming an MSP in 1999 was the CPG on carers. During my time as the convener of that CPG, its primary focus was on the development of a carers strategy. Back in 1999, the carers lobby took full advantage of the establishment of the new Parliament, seeing an opportunity to raise their issues and get them high up on the political agenda. I was pleased that the Government at that time launched a carers strategy in 1999, and the current Government has seen fit to do further work, developing the work that was undertaken by the Parliament in its first session.

It became clear to me back then that there was a particular problem in relation to young carers. There was and still is a tension between the understandable desire to relieve children and young people of onerous caring responsibilities and the pragmatic need to support them in their caring role. There was a feeling that to support young carers was somehow to condone their involvement in an activity that could be detrimental to their personal development and for which the state should ideally take greater responsibility.

That is why I am particularly pleased that the Scottish Government has published the first young carers strategy, which is important. It is estimated that more than 100,000 young people in Scotland have caring responsibilities. We need much more information about the number of young carers and the issues that they face, so I welcome Government plans to introduce a category on young carers in the 2011 school census. As the Princess Royal Trust for Carers said in its briefing for the debate, the inclusion of such a category can only raise awareness of young carers and result in identification of and support for a greater number of young people.

I welcome the Government’s decision to commit £5 million to the voluntary sector, to provide respite and short breaks, and I welcome the provision of funds for the annual Scottish young carers festival.

It is vital that we listen to young carers as we formulate policy and prioritise spending. During their most recent conference, which took place in August, young carers expressed concern about a range of issues. They highlighted the impact that caring can have on a young person’s mental health and they called for stronger support mechanisms in schools and greater consistency between local authorities. They expressed concern about the funding that is available for specialist young carers services, many of which have been funded through the fairer Scotland fund, which has come to an end, as all members know.

Among the issues that the Princess Royal Trust for Carers raised, it is important that we highlight the trust’s concern about future funding and resources, because the issue underpins many of the trust’s other concerns.

Jackie Baillie was right to say that the test for the carers and young carers strategies will be how they deliver on the ground and how health boards and local authorities are held to account on their implementation. There is no point in having an ambitious and well-meaning strategy in place if there are neither resources to implement the strategy nor meaningful commitments from all the partner agencies that are involved. Ross Finnie made a valid point when he described the challenges that exist in ensuring not only that the Scottish Government takes responsibility but that there is joint working between health boards and local authorities.

The trust expressed reasonable concern about the lack of additional investment that is attached to the carers and young carers strategy documents. The Government is good at publishing strategies, but it is not always as good at funding them. Investment is needed to ensure that increasing demand from unpaid carers and young carers can be met locally. That is particularly evident when we consider the plight of carers centres, many of which are experiencing greatly increased demand for their services just when their funding is under threat. Mary Mulligan was right to talk about the difficulties that many voluntary organisations face in trying to guarantee funding for the future. Funding for carer information strategies helps to sustain posts and projects in carers centres. I hope that the minister can offer reassurances about the future funding stream.

I welcomed the minister’s honesty about the SNP’s commitment to guarantee respite for carers who provide the most intensive care, but I gently point out that the commitment was to deliver the guaranteed entitlement prior to 2011. Was the policy that was set out in the 2007 manifesto not fully costed? What has been done since 2007?

Bob Doris, Mary Scanlon and Cathy Jamieson all mentioned the important issue of kinship care and the postcode lottery that was identified by the report that Citizens Advice Scotland published recently on kinship care. I am happy to recognise that there has been some progress on that, but it is not nearly enough. However, it is not only about money, as kinship carers have doggedly campaigned to point out. They want the needs of the children whom they look after to be addressed. They want educational support and access to psychological services to be improved, for example. It would be useful if, in her closing speech, the minister would commit to ensuring that there is better co-operation across all levels of government for kinship carers and the children for whom they care.

I welcome the publication of both strategies. There is much in them to be commended, and I give credit to the Scottish Government. However, the Government must provide the resources that are required to implement the commitments that are made in the strategies. It must provide assurances that local authorities and health boards will remain committed to those policy commitments and not be tempted to cut services as budgets are squeezed.

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