- Cymraeg
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Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
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The Approval of the General Principles of the Proposed Carers Strategies (Wales) Measure
June 8, 2010 12:00 AM
By Peter Black in Plenary
By Peter Black in Plenary
Peter Black: I move amendment 1 in my name. Add as a new point at the end of the motion:
notes the recommendation of the Stage 1 committee report that the NHS should not always be the lead authority.
I thank the Deputy Minister for indicating that she is prepared to support the amendment. It deals with an important principle, which is that, when it comes to an agreement on making provision for carers, we should not stipulate from the centre who the lead authority should be, but should let the local bodies involved in that process determine for themselves who should take the lead. The national health service and local authorities both do a great deal of work with carers and, in many instances, social services departments already take the lead on several important initiatives. There are also issues about the size of health boards and how they interact with local authorities. The fact that we are allowing for flexibility in drawing up schemes and putting together arrangements is important. I therefore welcome that the Deputy Minister has given an indication that she is prepared to move in that direction.
Another question that I want to ask the Deputy Minister with regard to this proposed Measure is whether she would elaborate on the reason why this proposed Measure does not incorporate and consolidate the existing legislation regarding carers. Under the National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Social Welfare) Order 2009, the National Assembly for Wales gained broad legislative competence over carers, which contrasts with the restricted competence in social care, where competency has only been granted around non-residential charges. The proposed Measure's primary aim is to give the Welsh Government the power to make local authorities and local health boards develop strategies, but the legislation could have covered other aspects of carers' rights. The proposed Measure offers the opportunity to repeal the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004 and the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 for Wales, and consolidate those two Acts and their provisions into a single source of Welsh legislation for carers.
The provisions of the proposed Measure would fit well into section 2 of the 2004 Act, 'Co-operation between authorities', and would not only extend the Act, but also establish a single body of Welsh legislation for carers. Instead, the proposed Measure makes no mention of either Act, and it is unclear how the three laws work together. An individual or organisation seeking to understand the rights of carers will now have to consult three different pieces of legislation, but the proposed Measure offered the opportunity to consolidate carers' legislation into a Measure that could be built on over time. I must therefore ask whether a better outcome for carers could have been achieved had the legislation been consolidated in that way, even
Having made that point, I would like to say that I generally welcome the legislation that is in front of us. There is cross-party support for giving these sorts of rights, particularly with regard to information, to carers and putting on the statute book the rights for carers contained in this proposed Measure. The committee's report raises a number of points, which we will no doubt come back to in some detail during Stage 2 and Stage 3 proceedings. I hope that the Deputy Minister will be receptive to those points and that we can progress this legislation on that basis.
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