Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:27 pm on 15 June 2022.
Thank you very much, Jane Dodds, for that question. Certainly, we know that the financial pressures that Jane describes are something that are affecting everybody in the community, and specifically on carers. I'm sure Jane is referring to carers and unpaid carers as well. The cost of travelling between different calls that they have to do, I know is putting a huge strain on their resources. I think, referring to the answer I gave to Mike Hedges's question, it's absolutely essential that we improve their terms and conditions, and that, obviously, includes what they're paid for petrol to travel between different calls. Also, I'm sure Jane is aware of the £10 million grant that we gave to local authorities in order to enable them to purchase electric cars that would be available for domiciliary carers to use, and also to be used to help pay for driving lessons for carers as well. So, it certainly is very high up in our consideration and there are things that we will certainly be looking at.