Hansard

A person who was far better and wiser than I am said:

“The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.”

In today’s debate, I want to push that further and say that how we support those who care for our most vulnerable people, and who give so much of their time, energy and care to those who need it most, demonstrates how much we value our most vulnerable people. For too long, carers have been undersupported, undervalued and underpaid, which is an indictment of how we have cared for those who care, both paid and unpaid.

My two sisters work as carers and I am absolutely in awe of their hard work. Last summer, after I was first elected, I was asked by a friend how busy I was, as I stood next to my sister, who had been doing 12-hour shifts of backbreaking, emotionally intensive and pressured work. I thought, “Ask her! She’s the hero here.” Then last Sunday, as I was getting ready to go to my nice warm bed, my other sister was travelling across Edinburgh at 10 pm to do a sleepover, which probably had very little to do with sleep. I think that my sisters are pretty incredible, but I respect them even more for the work that they do for the sake of others. It is not easy, but it is of enormous value. My sisters, and all other carers in Scotland—paid and unpaid—are absolutely brilliant.

I am sure that our rhetoric is caring and supportive, but our actions are what really count. That is why it is not only unfair that support, in the form of carers allowance, is the lowest of all working-age benefits; it also demonstrates that our actions have fallen seriously short of caring for carers. I am really pleased that we will, when our Government gets the power to do so, increase carers allowance. I am also pleased that the Scottish Government will allocate an additional £100 million for continuing delivery of the living wage to adult care workers for sustainability in the sector. I hope that that attracts more people into the vital role of caring, and that it sends a message to current carers that they are greatly valued and we could not do without them. I also hope that it raises the status and the image of social care as a profession further.

Lack of carers is certainly a challenge in the Highlands, as we have seen recently in the news, when the Haven care home in Uig announced that it is closing because of difficulty in finding carers. That is a challenge for other residential care homes, especially in the Highlands and the smaller rural places, where there being fewer beds makes it harder to make ends meet. The challenge is then for the elderly people who may have to move quite a distance away from home or, perhaps, away from a partner who might not be able to travel to visit them. Our attracting and retaining the right people in the right places goes right to the heart of treating people with dignity, respect and fairness when they need care, wherever they live.

Delivery of community-based services through integration of healthcare and social care means that rural residents can get the care and support that they need, and can stay in their homes for longer. That takes on greater importance in the rural Highlands because there are other challenges for the people who care in the community—not the least of which is their having to travel many miles in a day. Support for carers should therefore recognise the added pressures of working in rural areas, if we are to recruit enough carers to care for the people who need care in the Highlands.

Each carer is unique and meets the unique needs of the people for whom they care. Almost one in five of Scotland’s adult population is a carer, and there are, according to Carers Scotland, almost 30,000 young carers under the age of 16—4 per cent of the under-16 population. Those figures do not include the hidden carers who have not been identified and are not being supported by services.

The caring role of unpaid carers is usually an extension of their love for family, friends and neighbours. However, they still experience the sleepless nights, the heavy physical work, the potential for loneliness and isolation, and the unlikelihood of a break or a holiday. On top of that, they perhaps also have a full-time job or are in full-time studies, and perhaps struggle to pay utility or food bills.

For young carers, there are real challenges in continuing with education in school, college or university, so it is important that we do everything that we can to support those young people so that they do not lose out because of the demands of their caring role. That is why the Scottish Government funded the College Development Network to design and deliver an online resource for learners who have caring responsibilities. Although we do not collect annual data on the number of young carers who are in part-time study, an action planning tool is available to help colleges to improve identification of and to meet the needs of student carers, so that we can support them as much as possible.

With the devolution of more social security powers, it is important that we not only consider the people who receive care, but think about how we support the people who deliver that care. I am proud to be part of a Parliament, and to support a Government, that puts dignity, respect and fairness at the very heart of how we care for those who need care, and of how we care for those who deliver care.