Meeting of the Parliament 04 February 2016
Many of the joint boards will not be set up until this April, and the money is going to health boards, not to local government, as the Scottish Government keeps saying. The health boards are expected to put that money into the joint partnerships. Local government has no control over that money; it depends on health boards putting it into the joint pot.
If the Scottish Government wanted to give that money to local government, why was it not in the local government budget? That is either political expediency or a way of punishing local government for saying that the Scottish Government is cutting its budgets. That takes us away from the support of carers, but it is really important that smoke and mirrors are not used for that money and that we recognise that local government will bear the cost of the bill and that it will be for it to deliver what is asked.
A number of members have talked about carers’ need to self-identify. Jayne Baxter pointed out that carers—especially young carers—often do not recognise that they are carers. Carers need to be asked what we can do to support them. They need to be referred to services, not signposted or asked to self-refer. We need to take the burden off carers for their own support.
In conclusion, we owe it to carers to ensure that the bill is not the last word. It is an important step, but we are far from there. We owe it to carers to continue to seek better ways in which we can support them in the future.
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