Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Carers UK and Carers Scotland

The motion

That the Parliament congratulates Carers UK and Carers Scotland on celebrating the charity’s 60th anniversary; acknowledges its years of dedicated service, providing advice and support to unpaid carers and campaigning to improve their rights; understands that the organisation began in 1965, when Reverend Mary Webster, who was an unpaid carer herself, founded the first carers' organisation, the National Council for the Single Woman and her Dependants, which, in 1999, became Carers UK; recognises the substantial growth of the number of unpaid carers, with over 627,700 unpaid carers in Scotland, whose contribution is worth an estimated £15.9 billion; commends the organisation’s unwavering commitment to campaigning for carers' rights and ensuring that unpaid carers are informed, empowered and valued; believes that unpaid carers play an essential role across Scotland and that they should have access to the support and recognition that they deserve; welcomes the role that MSPs have had in improving carers' rights, including improvements to assessment, support, social security and most recently legislating for a right to a break from caring; believes, however, that to embed these rights and to ensure that they are delivered effectively, this government and future ones must go further to support unpaid carers, including by investing in a dedicated health inequalities strategy and flexible health services, screening for unpaid carers to tackle the damage to health that they face, reducing the poverty they experience and providing ringfenced investment in direct support for unpaid carers, including in carers centres, and delivering a right to a break from caring, and expresses gratitude to all those who have been involved in Carers Scotland and Carers UK for their service and advocacy on behalf of Scotland’s caring community.

No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

SNP 8 Con 7 Lab 6 Ind 2 LD 1

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S6M-19876 by reference.