Douglas McAllister

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. My contribution will be brief. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) on securing this debate to consider inequalities faced by unpaid carers. It was also my great pleasure to attend the parliamentary reception last night organised by Carers UK on the eve of Carers Rights Day—which is, of course, today. It is the 25th anniversary, and I believe this year’s theme is, “Know your rights, use your rights”. To mark the occasion, Carers UK prepared a report highlighting the inequalities faced by the UK’s invisible army—the 5.8 million unpaid carers across our nation. I was struck by the figures in that new report revealing that one third do not know where to go for financial guidance and 41% are unsure what benefits they are entitled to as carers. I am incredibly fortunate to have Carers of West Dunbartonshire in my constituency. It is a wonderful organisation that provides outstanding help, support and guidance to our unpaid carers—from opportunities to rest, talk and recharge their batteries to essential advice on how to break down the barriers to obtaining financial help, housing and the tailored resources they so desperately need. However, I want specifically to congratulate Carers of West Dunbartonshire on its book launch last month, which I was privileged to attend—all proceeds go to the charity. The book, “Above and Beyond” by author Lynn Jolly, is reasonably priced, at just £10 a copy, and available in all good bookshops this Christmas. It is a collection of real-life short stories from carers who attend the West Dunbartonshire organisation. There is no better way to recognise the daily struggles of our carers, their love for the people they care for and their contribution to our society. I thank all our West Dunbartonshire carers, as well as all the unpaid carers across our nation.