This month, I’m leading Labour’s scrutiny of the Government’s Care Bill. We’ll be going through the Bill line by line, and I’ll be pushing to improve it – including on help for carers.

The Bill includes many new rights for carers that I welcome, but parents who are caring for disabled children are at risk of being left out. Last Thursday I proposed changes, which the Government voted against, that would make sure they don’t fall through the cracks (you read more about this in my Mercury column here). I had excellent support from the Carers Centre in Leicestershire and Rutland. ITV Central have been covering the story .

I’m also arguing for GPs and hospitals to do more to identify adult carers and for schools, colleges and universities to identify young carers. I’ll keep you updated on how the Bill progresses.