Fury as Carers’ Parliament is axed
A mum has blasted the Scottish Government over is failure to organise a Carers’Parliament this year.
The Paisley Daily Express can reveal the annual one-day event that gives those who are looking after others the chance to speak up will not be held for the first time since 2012.
The Scottish Government commissioned Carers Scotland to organise and manage the Carers’Parliament. But there will be no event this year. Paisley mum Sandra Webster, who has two autistic sons, is furious at the decision.
She said:“I’m a bit disgruntled because it is an opportunity for politicians and the First Minister to get together and hear the stories of carers.
“It’s the only way we have, where politicians can come along and hear us.”
The Carers’Parliament means a huge amount to Mrs Webster and others like her, she added. “What does it mean?,”she said. “In one way it is tokenism, but it is one day a year where carers and non-politician can go to a debating chamber and talk about their lives and debate issues that affect carers. “There’s load of things that are coming up. “There’s the thing from Audit Scotland about Direct Payments, for example, and what’s going to happen to the future of them.
“There’s a Carers’Bill coming up. It would have been an opportunity to discuss that.”
Mrs Webster has written to health minister Shona Robison asking for an explanation for the cancellation of the Carers’Parliament this year.
Mrs Webster added:“I want there to a Carers’ Parliament.”