Mr. John Dunne:

I will briefly make two quick points. My answer to the direct question is "No". I know we are not all agreed on this. I think it would be very valuable to have a question in the census about caring for children. Family caring, if I could put it like that, and parenting are two different things. There is an overlap between them. One of the challenges in changing the census is the need for consistency of data over time. There is an extra one now that we are trying to fit into the EUROSTAT framework. There is definitely room to progress it but I would prefer to see two questions rather than simply a bigger aggregate number, which might be more difficult to get to the bottom of.

The point Ms Hughes raised on homophobia is fascinating. It may well be more a function of adolescence. We are back to travelling now after Covid. Ms Duffy and I travel around the country twice a year and we meet approximately 1,000 carers in different places in the space of a fortnight. We ask them what they want. When I asked what we could do, I still remember a man telling me what he would really like would be that when he is with a group of male friends and someone asks what he does, he would not be met by silence when he answers that he is a carer. I thought that was fascinating. I am still not sure whether that silence is linked to homophobia, but there may be an element of embarrassment about it. I do not know what it is that triggers the silence but it is the truth. It may be more acceptable for a woman to say she is a carer but a man who says it does get a look. With adults, I do not think there is a homophobic agenda but the point is that it is seen as odd and we do need to normalise it a bit more.