The theme for Carers Week 2012 is ‘In sickness and in health” recognising the strain families are under as they see their services cut back. It calls for better financial and practical support for the diverse range of people who have caring responsibilities.

Research carried out in 2012 found that carers are at breaking point

• 47 per cent of unpaid carers said they were made ill by money worries
• 45 per cent of unpaid carers said that caring had pushed them into debt

Mark and Fiona have joined together to pay tribute to carers, and to urge that they receive more support in their caring roles.

Commenting, Mark Hunter said:

“Thousands of people in Cheadle sacrifice not only their time, but also their money and their health in order to care for a loved one. Together they save this country an incredible £119 billion every year. It’s vital that carers are offered regular breaks from caring and health checks so that they can be supported.

“I am taking part in Carers Week to show my respect and appreciation for our carers. I also want to let them know that there are services out there to help them. Caring can be so incredibly demanding. It’s important that carers know that they don’t have to struggle on alone.”

Fiona Phillips has personal experience of being a carer. She says:

“From personal experience, I know caring can demand a lot of your time and attention, which in some cases can put pressure on other areas in your life such as financial responsibilities and relationships. These problems can prove to be exhausting and mentally gruelling and can really take its toll on your health and wellbeing. I hope that Carers Week can again help to achieve change, and make a real difference to the lives of carers in this country.”

Helen Clarke, the Carers Week Manager says:

“I’m delighted that MPs are listening to carers’ concerns and supporting this year’s Carers Week. We must take action to support theUK’s 6.4 million carers. Many are paying the price of a care system in crisis – being forced to give up work to care and often pushed into ill-health, financial hardship and debt because of a lack of support to help them care.”

Carers Week is organised by a partnership of 8 national charities: Age UK, Carers Trust, Carers UK, Independent Age, Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie Cancer Care, MS Society, and Parkinson’s UK. For more information about local events and activities visit www.carersweek.org.

The Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday. This is an issue which the Liberal Democrats in general, and Andrew George in particular, have campaigned on for many years. I can remember meeting with farmers shortly after I was first elected back in 2001, and hearing from them the difficulties they faced as suppliers for the biggest supermarkets. A commitment to introduce “a powerful independent regulator of Britain’s food market” featured in our last manifesto (in fact, Labour and the Conservative manifestos both included a similar pledge).

Following the Competition Commission’s report in 2008, which highlighted the danger of supermarkets abusing their power by transferring “excessive risk and unexpected costs” to farmers, growers and suppliers, the last Labour government did introduce a statutory Groceries Code of Practice. However, laws aren’t much use without the police and courts to pull up those that break them, and with no body charged with enforcing the Code there was nothing to stop retailers simply ignoring it if they wanted to.

That is why I am delighted that this Government is introducing the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill, which was published last Friday. This will create an independent ombudsman to ensure that the Code is respected – and to sanction supermarkets if they break it. Those sanctions include naming and shaming offenders, and if that doesn’t prove effective then ministers can give the Adjudicator the power to levy fines.

The Adjudicator will also be able to hear complaints in complete confidence not only from suppliers but also from third party organisations such as the National Farmers Union or War on Want, for example. This means that suppliers don’t have to fear being singled out by supermarkets for putting their head above the parapet.

Supermarkets contribute a great deal to our economy, and bring huge benefits for customers. However, their sheer size and dominance should not be licence to treat suppliers unreasonably.

The new edition of House magazine features an extended interview with Norman Lamb, written by Sam Macrory.

Norman features on the cover, with the strapline “The business minister on why ‘flunking’ the coalition is not an option”.

The interview took place on election day, so Norman had thoughts for those facing tough polling fights, while defending the coaltion:

It’s very difficult for those people who are doing brilliant work in their local communities if they lose seats because of the position we are in in government, but

…

Nick Clegg has long championed the pupil premium, new money allocated to schools to help boost the educational chances of children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. Today’s Guardian reports how he plans in a major speech on Monday to emphasise its importance in improving social mobility in the UK:

Nick Clegg will next week set out long-term plans to break the grip of private schools on the British establishment when he publishes proposals for a surge in social mobility based on the “pupil premium”. … Clegg, launching a two-week drive on social mobility, which he sees as one of the central goals of his deputy premiership, will set out in a speech on Monday how he wants the £1.25bn pupil premium to be used by schools.

Schools currently get a pupil premium of £488 per child on free school meals from central government. But the cash is not ringfenced, so once schools are handed the money by central government, there is no requirement to spend it in any specific way.

Clegg, instinctively opposed to central targets, has rejected setting requirements on how the cash is spent. He will instead highlight the most effective programmes without ruling out others. But school performance tables will be required to show the achievement of deprived pupils covered by the pupil premium. Schools will also be made to publish information online about how they have used the premium.

Clegg has insisted that all his school reforms, including more academies, free schools and greater discipline, are designed to help the poorest children in society.

* Newshound sets the agenda, as you would expect from a Red Setter

So, here it is in the Guardian, the paper that’s been so critical of the Coalition in general and the Lib Dems in particular, these past two years. The announcement that many of us have wanted to see for as long as we’ve been politically active. That women who take time out of the labour market to care for children or sick relatives will not be penalised in their old age.

This is an example of the Coalition delivering a major benefit to mainly women.  And although it’s Iain Duncan Smith who’s quoted in the article, make no mistake, it’s Liberal Democrat Pensions expert Steve Webb who’s put this together.This is the man who found a fault with the way some women’s pensions had been calculated in opposition and got the DWP to sort it, giving many women a pension boost of more than £1000 so he has a lot of previous form in getting justice for women pensioners.

The fact that women are penalised in old age for taking on caring roles that would cost the State a fortune if they didn’t has always been a horrendous injustice. Liberal Democrats have been banging on about changing it for decades. And do you know what? First chance of power we get, we sort it. How good is that?

We need to get out on people’s doorsteps and make sure people know that it’s the Liberal Democrats who are responsible for them paying less tax, for increasing their State Pension by £5.30 a week, for changing a fundamentally unfair Pensions system.

The reason we’re willing to take the pain that this Coalition brings us is so that we can deliver things like this. It’s two years today since we watched Nick Clegg enter Downing Street for the first time as Deputy Prime Minister. I wrote at the time that my emotions were lurching between horror, pride, fear and hope. They still are. This is a good day, though.

* Caron Lindsay is Wednesday editor at Lib Dem Voice and blogs at Caron’s Musings