Hansard

I thank Irene Oldfather and congratulate her on securing this debate. There has been a great deal of positive discussion on this issue, both here this evening and at various other forums over the past few weeks. That is a clear demonstration of the importance that we all place on supporting carers.

The debate is timely. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was delighted to lend my support to national carers week. It gave me an opportunity to recognise the immense contribution that is made by carers and to give carers my assurance that supporting them remains high on the Executive's agenda.

Our recent debate on care homes highlighted the huge challenges that we face as we seek to ensure dignity and quality of life for our older people, and to do so in a climate of demographic change and an ever-increasing shift towards care at home. Delivering a better deal for Scotland's carers has to be a central part of the Executive's social care policies.

I firmly believe that we have already made great progress. Enormous achievements have been secured for—and by—carers over the past four years. The main catalyst behind that, as Irene Oldfather correctly identified, has been the carers strategy, which was launched in 1999. One of the strategy's key achievements has been the introduction of significant new laws to give carers independent access to help and support. The legislation is based on the principle that carers must be treated as key partners in the provision of care, and it includes provisions that should ensure that carers are made aware of their rights, a point that has quite rightly been emphasised by Donald Gorrie and Sandra White this evening.

To be aware of their rights, people need first to be aware that they are a carer. The motion asks

"that the Scottish Executive should target resources"

to identify so-called hidden carers, or people who are not accessing social services and who may not recognise themselves as carers. Sandra White rightly raised that issue. I am happy to say that a new publicity and information programme is on-going, and that we have placed requirements on local authorities to identify carers and to ensure that carers are supplied with all the necessary information about their rights and about the services that they can access.

As some members have already done, I should mention the excellent work that has been carried out between the Executive and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers. That has already helped identify more than 10,000 hidden carers. That is an excellent piece of work, which I endorse and encourage, both now and for the future.

As I said, the legislation places new responsibilities on local authorities to identify carers and to inform them of their rights. Mary Scanlon spoke—quite properly—about direct payments, an issue that was referred to earlier today during question time. I cannot stress too strongly that we will encourage local authorities to keep to their obligations to ensure that people are aware of direct payments and aware that they now have a far greater choice. The scheme will be extended over the coming year. I assure Mary—and the entire chamber—that we are firmly committed to ensuring that the full impact of that development is felt by carers.

Campbell Martin spoke about the requirement to monitor carers and to ensure that people are aware that they are carers, that they have rights as carers, and that there are entitlements that they should take up. Over the months to come, we will do all that we can to ensure that local authorities pick up on that agenda, actively pursue people who are involved in care, and—in as sympathetic, as caring and as professional a manner as possible—do all that they can to ensure that people access the services to which they are entitled.

We are very much aware that caring can creep up on people as a gradual change in an existing relationship. We know that the caring population is constantly changing, and we know that there are issues over whether all carers want to be identified or offered support. That is why statutory agencies such as local authorities face significant challenges in consistently identifying carers and offering them support. We will continue to encourage them to do so and will continue to monitor the success of our encouragement.

Many carers can be picked up through early contact with primary care services—by their general practitioner in particular. Carers are far more likely to see their GP than to see a social worker. That is why we made sure that the new contract for GPs established identifying carers as an indicator of good quality practice for GPs. We are delighted that the GP profession overwhelmingly endorsed the new contract last week. Let us not underestimate the scale of that achievement. It should bring significant benefits to carers.

We are currently funding work to provide information to carers through community pharmacists. To help raise awareness and to advertise sources of support, the Executive has just distributed—as I mentioned earlier—new publicity material throughout Scotland. That is the second such campaign since the carers strategy was launched.

Today's motion asks the Executive to provide resources so that the vision underpinning the recent legislation on carers—that of carers as partners—can be realised. We are doing just that. Resources available to local authorities to support carers and provide respite care have risen from £5 million a year in 1999 to £21 million this year. By any standards, that is a huge increase in real terms. Some local authorities have used that investment to reinforce their support for carers. For instance, here in Edinburgh, resources have been targeted at supporting young carers and carers from minority ethnic groups. However, we also have to recognise candidly that some local authorities have been more effective than others in using their resources and supporting carers. I am clear that we need to improve our ability to identify and measure the outcomes for carers that are being delivered through those resources and our policies. I assure the chamber—and I especially assure carers throughout Scotland—that that work will be a high priority for the Executive in the months ahead.

I know that time is short and that my time is nearly up. I do not want to give the chamber, or carers in Scotland, the impression that we are saying that we have done enough. We have not. Clearly, there is more to do. I am looking forward to meeting carers' representatives next month to discuss their and our priorities for the next three to four years. If we can establish realistic aims and aspirations, I am confident that we can make progress in our work to assist carers and make their quality of life better—and make the quality of life of the people whom they care for better too.

I acknowledge the point that Nanette Milne made and I have no doubt that some of the excellent points that have been made tonight will feature in our discussions with carers' representatives. I am sure that we will be able to establish the very important agenda for the next three to four years.

I hope that colleagues will agree that there is much to be positive about and that the carers strategy is stimulating real changes for the better. I warmly welcome today's debate. It is vital that the Parliament keeps carers high on its agenda. I am sure that the Executive can count on the continued support of the Parliament as we seek to deliver a better Scotland for carers. I assure the chamber that we welcome the continued scrutiny of our work to improve the quality of life for carers throughout Scotland.