6. Will the First Minister provide an update on the delivery of the unpaid carers charter? OQ59273

The first annual report on implementation of the unpaid carers strategy, including the charter, is published today. It covers a range of practical actions—the short breaks scheme and the carers support grant, for example—to support unpaid carers.

Thank you, First Minister, for that. The right of an assessment for unpaid carers to find out what support they need, if any, is a key principle of the charter of unpaid carers. Research from the Motor Neurone Disease Association has now shown that one in four MND carers across Wales had either received a carers assessment or were in the process of having one. These assessments are absolutely crucial for assessing a range of support, and it goes without saying that our unpaid MND carers, and indeed all carers, are absolutely doing an incredible job. I just wondered, First Minister, what steps is the Government taking to ensure that all unpaid carers have access to those assessments?

I agree with Peter Fox that the right established in the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 that unpaid carers are entitled to an assessment—it's a legal right that they have and it's not something that is a grace and favour of anybody else—is a really important right that was established in this Senedd. The strategy and the funding that lies behind it is there to make sure that that right can be a reality. There are a number of different ways in which we can advance that agenda. The unpaid carers register, to which we are committed, will make sure that, in future, we have a more direct way of informing unpaid carers in Wales of the rights that they have, to give them advice as to how they can make those rights a reality. There is work going on at the moment to see how we can use some existing sources of data to populate an unpaid carers register. But the real key to it will be when we are able to have self-registration. We're not quite there yet, but we are hopeful that some of the technical problems that have to be solved before people will be able to put their own names on the register and then get that information flow and make those rights a reality—. Our hope is that we will be able to achieve that during the next calendar year.