§ Mr. Andrew MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps the Government are taking to assist young carers. [122427]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 1 July 2003]: We are taking a number of steps to help young carers.
We are providing funding through the Carers Special Grant. The grant is worth £100 million in 2003/04, of which 20 per cent, is earmarked for children's services, including young carers, which enable young carers to have a break.
We are also funding The Children's Society to undertake a three-year project, The Young Carers Initiative. This has involved direct consultation with young carers, leading to the publication last November, 93W with the Princess Royal Trust for Carers, of "Making it Work, Good practice with young carers and their families".
The Initiative supports more that 250 projects or groups across the country working with young carers, where they can go for advice, information and support or leisure. The Initiative has just entered its final year and is concentrating on developing standards for work with young carers.
Further, we are ensuring that young carers' needs are taken into account in developing work such as the National Service Framework for Children.
For further information I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) by the then Minister of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Jacqui Smith) on 21 May.
§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many children with a learning disability took short breaks enabled by funding from the carers grant in each year since 1997–98, broken down by each social services authority; [122336]
(2) what net expenditure from the carers grant on children with a learning disability by each social services authority in England (a) was in each year since 1997–98 and (b) is projected for the financial year 2003–04; [122384]
(3) how many children took short breaks enabled by funding from the carers grant in each year since 1997–98, broken down by social services authority. [122385]
§ Margaret HodgeSince it was introduced in 1999, the funding for the carer's grant has increased year by year, and will continue to do so, as follows:
£ million 1999–2000 20 2000–01 50 2001–02 70 2002–03 85 2003–04 100 2004–05 125 2005–06 185 20 per cent. of the carer's grant is earmarked for children's services. It is a matter for local authorities to determine local needs and distribute the carer's grant as they see fit. For this reason, information about how much money each local authority spends on services for children in general, and children with a learning disability, is not held centrally. Details about how many children with a learning disability from each social services authority took short breaks funded by the carer's grant are also not held centrally.
In 2001–02, 52,481 families were supported by children's services using the carer's grant. Before this date we did not collect data on the breakdown of spending of the carer's grant between children's and adult's services. This information will continue to be collected in future years.