Social Care (Local Sufficiency) and Identification of Carers Bill

Debate between Alex Cunningham and David Nuttall

Friday 7th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Alex Cunningham]

I very much agree with my hon. Friend. I have tremendous concerns, because a child who faces a detention might not turn up for it and end up getting deeper and deeper into trouble because of a lack of understanding among their teachers. That is all the more reason why we need the provisions in the Bill to ensure that young carers are identified and that responsibility is placed on schools to provide them with the necessary support.

[Mr Nuttall]

When that point about detentions was raised, did the schools Minister not make it clear that the detention would continue to have to be reasonable, that consideration would have to be given to all the circumstances and that teachers were well placed to understand the needs of an individual pupil?

[Alex Cunningham]

The then Minister did indeed say that a detention had to be reasonable, but a teacher who does not know that the young person is a carer cannot take that into consideration. That is all the more reason why we need such provision. It is also interesting to note that young carers aged between 16 and 18 years are twice as likely as their peers to not be in education, employment or training—a so-called NEET.

We are a long way from being perfect in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees—although we are very close to it on many issues—but I am proud to say that the borough council is very much leading the way on issues associated with young carers. The council has a young carers strategy, which has been in place since 2009. The aim is to ensure that services work together and share information to identify and support families to avoid young people becoming established in inappropriate caring roles, and to ensure that schools have in place procedures and policies that offer flexible and additional support to young carers, such as provision for personal tutors and access to the local young carers project. Stockton borough council and NHS Stockton-on-Tees are also developing a joint carers and young carers strategy, which will enable carers to be involved in planning care packages and designing local care services, and to fulfil their educational and employment potential.

Many other councils and health authorities are also doing innovative and exciting things to identify and support young carers—and carers generally—but many are not. They need the guidance in the Bill to fulfil the needs of one of the most vulnerable groups of young people in our society. We are all well aware of the immense challenges facing young carers, but we cannot help them if we cannot identify them. Again, that is why the Bill is so important to enable and ensure that support is provided.

As I set out at the start of my speech, the Government can send a signal to local authorities today—demonstrating that they believe that there has to be proper identification of young carers, universal protection for them and the right to quality services—by allowing the Bill to progress to Committee for further discussion and development. Even though the Government are developing their own legislation on carers, including young carers, in different Bills, they will disappoint a large community of people, along with their supporters, if they do not do so. Young carers give up a lot to be carers. They miss out on comforts and freedoms that the rest of us take for granted. They often give up their time and their social lives; indeed, they give up their childhoods. Their focus is on the loved ones they care for. That is why we have to remember to focus on them and move the Bill forward today.