To mark Carers Week, it was great to spend an hour in Parliament with representatives of the many organisations who work so hard to support carers in the constituency. These organisations had come together in Parliament to explain the current challenges for carers and to lobby MPs to do more. I spent my time with the teams from Age UK, Macmillan Cancer Support and Carers UK. The carers from these organisations described the difficulties which they have to overcome in order to provide care for their loved ones and to get on with their own lives. This was another reminder, as we all agreed, that the care system in our country is in need of reform. I remain wedded to the view that we need a cross-party consensus on social care reform, with a mixture of additional funds, organisational reform and more contributions from the estates of those who have needed support