Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:33 pm on 27 June 2018.
Thank you for that question. Colleagues may be interested to know that we convened the first formal meeting of the ministerial advisory group on carers today. I met them in the centre of Cardiff. All the relevant stakeholders, from a wide range of organisations, are there. And, in a similar way to the work that's been taken forward by our colleague here, David Melding, on the ministerial action group for looked-after children, which has provided such good results and work streams that have led to positive outcomes, we are very hopeful that the ministerial advisory group on carers will do the same. It is supported as well by an ancillary group, which is actually to represent the wider voice of carers. We can't fit everybody around that top table, but we have statutory providers, we have carers' organisations, older people's organisations, younger people's organisations. They can't all fit around the table—it's a very focused, targeted group—but, outside of that, there's an ancillary group that also gives those people who want to contribute their voices as carers into it as well—. And that will focus on issues such as how we support them—how we support carers with life beyond caring, so they're not defined entirely as carers and nothing else, because many carers want to work, to engage wider in society and so on. It is based on the identification of carers and the work we're doing with GP surgeries, with pharmacies, in schools with the schools toolkit, and it is also focused on the additional support, including flexible respite support, that we can give for carers going forward. This is a journey that we're on, not an end product, because we have to keep on improving the outcomes. But the £8.1 billion value of carers—the massive army of carers that are out there—it's not just their monetary value but it's also measured in compassion and the love that they provide, and I hope this ministerial advisory group will give me the direction of travel we need in Government and here in this Assembly to improve the lives of carers.