Commissioner for Older People (Wales) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I shall speak first to Amendment No. 10, before turning to Amendments Nos. 17 and 18. We discussed in some detail in Committee the issues raised in Amendment No. 10. I explained at that time that the Government’s view is that both Clauses 3 and 5 already enable the commissioner to undertake review and monitoring activity. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Roberts of Conwy, for looking up the definition of ““monitor”” in the Oxford English Dictionary. I understand that the dictionary makes a distinction between ““review”” and ““monitor””, but that distinction has no legal significance here as the terms used in the Bill must be interpreted in the context in which they appear. The term ““review”” in Clauses 3 and 5 includes monitoring activity and the Bill makes it clear that the purposes for which the commissioner may review functions and arrangements are safeguarding and promoting the interest of older people in Wales. However, the Government have reflected on the concerns that were put forward by your Lordships, in particular those about the difference in terminology used in Clauses 3 and 5, and, as the noble Lord, Lord Roberts, has said, they have therefore brought forward Amendments Nos. 17 and 18 to address these concerns. These amendments align the terminology used in the Bill by removing the reference to monitoring in Clause 5, while making it clear that the term ““review”” would include the process of monitoring over time. We may not agree on this, but I hope that noble Lords will be reassured to some extent by these amendments and feel able to withdraw their own.