HL Deb 04 December 2003 vol 655 cc484-7

3.20 p.m.

Baroness Pitkeathley

My Lords, I beg lea\e to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. In so doing, I remind your Lordships that today is carers' rights day.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that carers are aware of their rights and entitlements.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner)

My Lords, the Government are pleased to be supporting Carers UK in promoting carers' rights day 2003. My honourable friends the Ministers for community and for disabled people will be launching this year's event this evening.

As my noble friend knows, the Government, working with the public, voluntary and private sectors, have made major improvements to carers' entitlements and knowledge of their rights. Carers' rights day will help to ensure that even more carers receive the support available to them in the demanding work that they do.

Baroness Pitkeathley

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that reply and am happy to acknowledge the huge progress that has been made for carers in recent years. However, my noble friend will know that, in spite of two Acts of Parliament, most carers are still unaware of their right to an assessment of their community care needs and that, therefore, too many of them are not getting one.

Does my noble friend think that it would be helpful to review the performance assessment framework that local authorities use, to see whether we are measuring the right outcomes for carers? The key seems to be to change the behaviour and attitudes of local authorities, especially social services departments, so that they recognise what carers need.

Lord Warner

My Lords, I agree with my noble friend that there are still problems and that more must be done. Work is in hand in my department to develop a measure of carers' assessments and their outcomes, so that it can be used to monitor a council's performance. Discussions are in progress with the Social Care Institute for Excellence to develop a good practice component to assessments on the Department of Health carers' website.

Lord Clement-Jones

My Lords, one of the few bright spots in the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc.) Bill were the amendments secured by the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley, regarding assessments for carers, when the person for whom they cared left hospital. Does the Minister's response mean that those assessments will also be included in the performance assessment that he outlined? Those rights came into effect this October, and it will be important to monitor and assess them.

Lord Warner

My Lords, I am sure that that will be examined, as part of the work being done in the department.

Lord Laming

My Lords, what are the Government doing to highlight the special needs of the growing number of young people who are, sometimes, the principal carer in the family to ensure that their needs are identified and that they are given proper support in the formative years of their life?

Lord Warner

My Lords, young carers are in a difficult situation. The Government have been working to improve the support that is given to them. That work will continue.

Lord Tebbit

My Lords, have the Government anything in mind for improving the supply of professional carers? Has the Minister anything in mind for improving the facilities for offering training to family members who act as carers? Frequently, such people have no training and no idea of what their responsibilities may be, in the case of a family member who is, perhaps, injured. When that person leaves hospital, the situation comes upon the carer suddenly. What help do the Government have in mind?

Lord Warner

My Lords, the Government have hugely increased the amount of money available for health and social care, which has led to a large increase in the number of staff who would be described as professional carers in the sense in which the noble Lord uses the term.

Social services, in particular, work to help family members who care for people at home and to provide the advice and support necessary in those circumstances.

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff

My Lords, my question follows on from that asked by the noble Lord, Lord Tebbit Does the Minister think that it is the right of carers to be taught safe lifting and handling techniques, if they care for somebody with mobility problems?

Lord Warner

My Lords, that is all part of the assessment done by social services, when they come to examine the needs of a person with a disability or condition that needs care support in the home. In their assessment, they will take into account the ability of an informal carer to cope.

Baroness Howells of St Davids

My Lords, I am sure that the Minister is aware that more than 300,000 carers miss out on claiming the carer's allowance because they do not know about it Does the Minister think that social services departments should be more proactive in encouraging carers to claim?

Lord Warner

My Lords, we know that there is a problem, but there has been a huge increase in the number of people who claim the allowance. If last year's experience is anything to go by, carers' rights day will help improve that number.

Responsibility for the carer's allowance rests with the Department for Work and Pensions. It will bring in better claim packs for those benefits in order to simplify the claiming process The Government will continue to work with councils and the voluntary sector to improve take-up.

Baroness Howarth of Breckland

My Lords, does the Minister accept that the arrangements for social security payments for adults caring for young people with behaviour problems are so complex that it is almost impossible for them to receive their entitlement? I have been lobbied by someone who has two children with identical needs but cannot get the same arrangements for them.

Lord Warner

My Lords, I do not claim to be an expert in the area, but I shall look into the matter and write to the noble Baroness.

Baroness Gardner of Parkes

My Lords, as someone who has only recently become a carer, may I bring up the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, about people leaving hospital? The person whom I look after left hospital just before 1st October, so the arrangements did not apply. Is it now the case that each person who is to look after someone leaving hospital is given a note about their rights and entitlements? I had no idea that I had any rights or entitlements, I may not have.

Lord Warner

My Lords, I shall examine the noble Baroness's circumstances and see whether she was dealt with appropriately I shall write to her.

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, it is welcome that the carer's allowance has been extended to people over retirement age However, because of the financial rules, it is an incredibly complicated process, taking in pension arrangements, the minimum income guarantee and so on. I am delighted to hear the Minister say that the Department for Work and Pensions is looking into it and will send out new information.

That is all very well from the point of view of administrators. The important thing is that it should be read and understood by the recipients. That has not always been the history of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Lord Warner

My Lords, I recall that the Department for Work and Pensions has a good record of subjecting its guidance to the scrutiny of the Plain English Campaign.

Lord Avebury

My Lords, is there, in accordance with the principles of e-government, a website that carers can log on to, input details of their circumstances and get information about their entitlements? If there is, will the Minister give us the URL?

Lord Warner

My Lords, a number of websites is available to carers. They have been developed with Carers UK and other voluntary organisations. I am not familiar with all the websites of the Department for Work and Pensions. I shall look into the matter and write to the noble Lord.

The Earl of Listowel

My Lords, is there a mechanism in the noble Lord's department for recognising, when a person is assessed for health needs, that a child may be involved in caring for that person and for flagging up that fact with other departments, without breaching confidentiality with the patient? Is that an aim of the Green Paper? Is the Minister aware of any current mechanism for that?

Lord Warner

My Lords, I am not aware of any mechanisms in the department, but I would have thought that that was a matter for local social services departments, in assessing the circumstances of a carer.

Lord Mackay of Clashfern

My Lords, can the Minister give us an estimate of the number of young people in England and Wales or the United Kingdom who are carers?

Lord Warner

My Lords, I do not have the number immediately available, but I know that it is available. I will be happy to write to the noble and learned Lord.