20th June 2013: 11:20am 
Paul Burstow MP (Sutton and Cheam, Liberal Democrat) initiated a Backbench Business debate in the House of Commons by begging to move ‘that this House has considered the matter of carers’.
There followed a wide-ranging debate (transcript here). Most MPs who spoke referred to their experiences of carers and caring in their own constituencies, and recognised the contribution carers make to relieving the pressures, operational and financial, on health and social services.
There was a general recognition that the number of carers would grow, but that the current system was already under severe strain, and ‘letting carers down’. The general acknowledgement was that recent measures to give carers better access to carers’ assessments, and to respite care, had failed; this led to a wider discussion of carers’ rights and the effectiveness of recent legislation in promulgating them.
All in all, an interesting debate reflecting the concerns of many backbench MPs and of their constituents. Paul Burstow closed it with the words “… I shall simply thank all those who contributed to this debate, ask the Minister to write to all Members who have taken part in the debate about the issues that he did not have time to address, and underscore the fact that this debate recognises the invaluable work of carers and the fact that they are the backbone of our care system. Without them we would not have a health and social care system worth its name. We owe them a great debt, and as a result of that debt we must strive to do more.”