Chamber and committees

I know from discussions that I have had with the cabinet secretary that organisations such as Crisis Scotland and Shelter Scotland have put forward a preventive model, which I know the cabinet secretary and Government are considering, to strengthen homelessness prevention legislation. Given the impact of the pandemic, could you outline the timescale for that? There are opportunities to consider a preventive model.

I start, as others have done, by thanking Scotland’s unpaid carers, especially our young carers, for everything that they do to provide care and love to people across Scotland.

According to Carers UK, there were up to 729,000 unpaid carers in Scotland before the Covid-19 outbreak. The organisation now estimates that, at the height of the pandemic, that figure had risen by around 400,000. It is also believed that there are 45,000 young unpaid carers in Scotland. It is important for all of us to reflect on the fact that, across the country, 1.1 million of our fellow Scots are undertaking an unpaid caring role for a family member or loved one.

I have always believed that unpaid carers are the backbone of our social care system, and they often go unrecognised. I hope that today’s debate gives the Parliament an opportunity to recognise what they do. It is important that Governments, and we as a Parliament, do all that we can to help unpaid carers. We can and we must support them in that way.

The Scottish Conservatives support the doubling of the carers allowance supplement, which was a welcome measure that was included in the manifestos of all parties in the Parliament. We also want more progress to be made on how we support Scotland’s carers, especially its young carers. We understand the reasons that were given for the expedited timetable for consideration of the bill, and we have worked constructively to ensure that unpaid carers will receive the double payment if the bill is agreed to at stage 1 this evening and proceeds through stages 2 and 3 of its consideration.

The Social Justice and Social Security Committee heard a number of concerns on issues related to the allowance, some of which Neil Gray outlined. One issue was to do with only a small minority of carers being eligible for CAS. There was a desire for that to be changed so that more unpaid carers could be supported. It was expected that around 91,000 people would benefit from CAS in December, which represented around 10 per cent of all carers in Scotland.

Many of the responses that the committee received discussed concerns about the qualifying rules for carers allowance, including the inability of young carers to get the young carers grant if they were already in receipt of carers allowance at the time that they applied for the young carers grant. I understand that around 4,000 payments of the young carers grant have been made to young carers across Scotland since October 2019. That payment has been welcomed by the 16, 17 and 18-year-olds who have received it and who are in receipt of disability benefit for an average of 16 hours of care a week.

Eligibility and uptake are important issues, and I hope that the minister will work with parties across the chamber and the committee to consider some of the reforms to entitlement to the young carers grant that have been proposed, especially those that relate to qualifying for CAS.

The Scottish Conservatives also support early action to extend payments for carers after a bereavement, as I said earlier, and a new support package for carers who—as is often the case—have had to give up work to care for a loved one. We want that to be progressed at the earliest opportunity and, today, we have written to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government on the issue.

It is vital that we recognise that carers should be able to access support beyond financial support. Carers Scotland emphasises the importance of considering the needs of carers as a whole and not just their financial needs. That includes the impact on their lives and their wellbeing while they undertake caring roles.

The number 1 thing that carers have stressed throughout the inquiry that the committee has undertaken has been the need for breaks and respite packages to be restored. Many carers have had no breaks whatever over the past year, and addressing that must be a priority. As Willie Rennie said, it is absolutely critical that carers have the opportunity for a break and for respite care to be provided. I appeal to ministers to redouble their efforts to consider how they can deliver that and to update the Parliament on progress.

Access to vital healthcare services is an important issue that has been raised with the Social Justice and Social Security Committee and the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. Carers often put caring for a loved one ahead of their own health and mental wellbeing. Improvements need to be made in providing access to healthcare services for carers across Scotland.

The Scottish Conservatives welcome the bill, which will allow unpaid carers to receive a double payment of carers allowance in December; that is important to all members. Scrutiny of the bill has also provided an opportunity to highlight many of the other areas in which we need to see improvement. The passage of the bill in the committee has given us an opportunity to hear those voices. Unpaid carers are the backbone of our social care system. It is only right that they receive the additional payment to mitigate the financial impact of the pandemic. The carers allowance supplement is a welcome step forward in providing that support and the Scottish Conservatives will support the bill at decision time.

I have raised this point previously both in committee and in the chamber. Given what many of our constituents have faced, as the minister has highlighted, does the Scottish Government support an extension of carers allowance for up to six months after a bereavement? Is the Scottish National Party Government willing to take that forward and outline a timetable for it?

I, too, thank Stuart McMillan for bringing this important members’ business debate to the chamber and, more importantly, for all his work in the Parliament campaigning on eye health issues. It is important that we recognise that as well.

National eye health week is an excellent opportunity to highlight the importance of good eye health. I pay tribute to Sight Scotland and the RNIB, as other members have, for their useful briefings ahead of the debate. Both charities do exceptional work in supporting blind and partially sighted people across Scotland.

In today’s Edinburgh Evening News, Edinburgh old-age pensioner Charlie Burns, who is 83, and his daughter Gail Burns, praise Sight Scotland for its new national support line. Charlie has been diagnosed with macular degeneration, which is the most common cause of sight loss. Gail got in touch with Sight Scotland to ask what support would be available to both Charlie and herself. She said:

“It would have made a huge difference to have had support at an earlier stage after Dad’s diagnosis.”

The experience of Charlie and Gail reinforces Sight Scotland’s recent findings. It found that 83 per cent of participants said that it was important to provide more support to family members and carers, and 87 per cent said that support with the emotional impact of sight loss was important.

We face huge challenges in preventing sight loss across Scotland. There are currently 178,000 people in Scotland with sight loss, and that number is expected to double over the next 20 years. The pandemic has clearly had a negative impact on eye health, with fewer eye checks being carried out over the past year and a half. In my own region of Edinburgh and the Lothians, patients are experiencing extremely long waits for ophthalmology services. All of that combined presents a number of concerns, which I hope the debate will bring to ministers’ attention.

I noticed ahead of the debate that there has been a significant call to ministers by the sector to consider a proper long-term funding settlement. Optometry Scotland has asked for

“a minimum budget increase of 3% annually in real terms on fees.”

It also called on the Scottish Government to agree to an annual process for reviewing and negotiating eye-care examination fees. I hope that, in closing the debate, the minister can touch on how we can ensure that services recover post pandemic and that as many people as possible are able to access eye-health services across Scotland.

On a separate note, at the end of the previous session, Scottish National Party ministers announced that they were withdrawing funding for a replacement for the Princess Alexandra eye pavilion. Throughout the past year, I and other colleagues—I see that Sarah Boyack is in the chamber—have campaigned to ensure a U-turn from ministers on that.

This is an important opportunity to highlight the need in Edinburgh and the Lothians for information on when that hospital replacement—a long-term proposal—will take place. I would appreciate it if ministers could outline a timetable or timescale for that replacement hospital. Have ministers specifically considered the need for maintenance at the old eye pavilion in the capital? It is no longer fit for purpose—there are already significant challenges, such as old lifts that are often out of use.

I put on record, as others have already done, my huge thanks to opticians and healthcare professionals across Scotland, who continued to provide eye-health checks during the pandemic. Most importantly, I fully support the call by Stuart McMillan, Optometry Scotland and RNIB Scotland to encourage people who have not had an examination over the past two years to return to practices to get their eye health checked.

I want to return to points that the convener has already raised about our correspondence and evidence session with Councillor Margaret Davidson. She told the committee that there was a good initial conversation between the council and Boundaries Scotland, but much of what the council relayed to the commission during the early conversations was not taken on board when the proposals were drawn up. We have already heard concerns with regard to Sutherland, Wester Ross and the Loch Ness communities. How were those concerns taken on board? What community engagement took place? How do you respond to the specific concerns that Highland Council expressed?

You touched on your work during the pandemic, which has impacted every organisation. We are still feeling the impacts today—indeed, you are having to give evidence remotely. Has your work been constrained by time, given the fact that the Government has asked for proposals to be introduced before next year’s council elections? Has the pandemic impacted on your ability to really find out the views of communities? Have communities really been engaged in the work over the period?

With the council elections rapidly approaching, what can be done to improve council demographics? We want to encourage more women, younger people and people from ethnic minorities to put themselves forward and get involved in local government. One of the issues that people have raised with us is around remuneration for councillors. Given your experience, what do you think would encourage more people to consider putting themselves forward?

I will start with Kim, because I know that you have commented previously on the matter.

Good morning. I have a two-pronged question. First, how has the integration of health and social care worked or not worked? Secondly, concerns have been expressed to the committee about the proposed national care service. What impact will the proposals have on the topic that we are talking about—empowering our local councils and our democracies? I will start with Angus Hardie. If other witnesses who want to speak put an R in the chat box, I hope that we can bring them in.

Thank you, convener. I thank the panel for joining us today.

To save time, I will put two questions together. First, we know that undertaking a caring role is a key contributing factor that has been linked to poverty, and we know that during the pandemic, more than 390,000 more Scots have become carers. It is now estimated that 45,000 young people are unpaid carers. What are the panel’s views on priorities for the 2022-23 budget with regard to potential reforms to the young carer grant and young carers qualifying for carers allowance supplement? Secondly, what do you think should be done to improve benefit uptake?

That is very helpful. Given that we have seen the cost double for the establishment of Social Security Scotland, has that work on case transfers been significantly underresourced?