, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Inevitably, I guess, schools will say there are resource issues. We know that we're seeing schools not having as many teaching assistants—learning support assistants they're called now—as they used to have, and quite often they have a significant role with…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Money should not be the barrier to this, and so I want a better understanding, and this is the conversation I've had with officials, because we know that there are some local authorities and some schools that are doing this, and they're doing it very well and…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Frankly, the money involved in this is pennies.
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
I don't think it was specifically in that letter, but we're having regular conversations with local authorities about the use of the ID card. I'll ask Denise just to say a little bit about those conversations, then I'll come back to some of the wider issues…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Generally, yes, I absolutely do, but I do recognise the concerns about the inconsistency of approach within GP practices. I'm not sure that that necessarily needs legislation. It should be almost like a given, shouldn't it, if a GP is having to deal with his…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
And I think it would appear that some of the awareness raising has been primarily amongst professionals rather than the public, but I think that is the next phase that we've just been talking about. And we're also doing some work with Age Cymru, because…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
But what you're asking for is that that awareness is more publicly visible.
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Well, I think that's—. Do you want to—?
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Okay. We do fund Carers Wales and Carers Trust, actually. We give them over £300,000 a year to develop awareness campaigns, and they have done that. I mean, whether it's as successful as it needs to be given the question that you're asking—. And that is about…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
I think that that is a good question, and it's partly to do with the answer that I gave to Mabon earlier. We're expecting regions to have those needs assessments—those population needs assessments—that would identify the kinds of things that they need to…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
No.
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Young carers in particular—you referenced young carers—are recognised as a vulnerable group for obvious reasons, and so their mental health and well-being is in our NEST self-assessment, which asks services across sectors to consider the needs of young carers…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Well, there's something called the hospital discharge guidance, which sets out very clearly that this is something that they should be doing, that the carer should be identified. To go back to what I was saying earlier on, it's not a huge leap, is it, between…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Sorry, you're talking now about when a relative is discharged from hospital.
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
I think it's fundamental to any discussion with a carer, isn't it, to establish if they are willing and able. That should be the first question that is put to them and, as you indicated, that is a requirement of the 2014 Act. That is part of the assessment…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Sure. Sorry, Alistair wanted to say something on policy.
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Yes, and I think there is absolutely something in that, Chair. That was, I think, the basis of Lesley's question about what the monitoring is showing you. But I think we do have to be very clear that local authorities have their own democratic mandate to…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Three years, yes. Every three years, [Correction: Five years, yes. Every five years,'] they undertake a population needs assessment that sets out very clearly what the needs in their particular local authority area are. Now, I can't determine that from from a…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Again, local authorities have to determine the workforce that they need. They have to undertake a population needs assessment every—. Three years?
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
I think you're right, and I guess that council committee agendas are public knowledge, in the public domain. It wouldn't be difficult to do a little bit of research on that and find out when and where it's been discussed. Social care generally is one of the…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Listen, I understand the pressures that local authorities are under—of course I do. Again, you will know that that has absolutely been a focus of the discussions that we've had with your party on the budget for this year. It's absolutely focusing on the need…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Well, to an extent, Mabon, I think that is a question more for the local authorities, because they have the legal responsibility for delivering the provisions of the Act, and I think I've already set out very clearly what my intended actions are going to be…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
Well, as I said, I think I answered that in a previous question. I've now written to every local authority leader in Wales to ask them to set out very clearly what they're doing to meet their statutory obligations in this respect, and, once I've had that…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
No, I don't accept that. We've had legislation in place since 2014 that clearly sets out the requirement to support unpaid carers. So, I don't think it's the policy that is wrong, Mabon. It's putting policy into practice that is where we're seeing the gaps…
, Health and Social Care Committee
Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with the Minister for Children and Social Care
So, I think, going back to the point I was making a little earlier about the new data set that we're looking for for unpaid carers, certainly in local authorities, obviously it does take a bit of time to work that through, to ensure that the data being…
