National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Social Welfare) Order 2008

rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 22 May be approved. The noble Baroness said: My Lords, we have just debated the order that confers executive functions on Welsh Ministers. This draft order, covering charges for non-residential social care services, will confer legislative competence on the National Assembly for Wales under Section 95 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. Noble Lords will recall that we previously approved an order giving legislative competence to the National Assembly for Wales relating to children and young people with additional learning needs. The Order in Council process created by the Government of Wales Act 2006 provided an improved mechanism to enable the Assembly to achieve its legislative priorities. No longer must the Assembly fight for space in future Queen’s Speeches for Westminster Bills. As noble Lords are aware, these orders are subject to affirmative resolution in both Houses and the approval of the National Assembly for Wales. Parliament decides on a case-by-case basis whether legislative competence in a certain area should be devolved. Many questions must be asked to make this determination. Is it appropriate for the Assembly to have legislative competence in this area or would it be better remaining at a UK level? Has a clear case for powers been made? Is the scope of the order appropriate to allow the Assembly to legislate effectively in this area? The details of any measure that the Assembly Government wish to pass—the Welsh equivalent of an Act of Parliament—are not for the Government or Parliament to consider. They will be wholly for the National Assembly for Wales to scrutinise. On 20 May, the National Assembly considered and unanimously agreed the order that is before this House. Subject to the agreement of this House this evening, and that of the other place next week, the order will confer further legislative competence on the Assembly in the area of social welfare, which has been largely devolved for many years. This will enable the Assembly to pass measures concerning charges that may be levied for non-residential social care services, and payments made to individuals to purchase such care directly. The primary piece of legislation governing charges for non-residential social care is Section 17 of the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Act 1983. Section 17 gives local authorities a discretionary power to recover such charges as they consider reasonable from adult recipients of non-residential social services. The only restriction on any authority’s power to charge is that it shall not require users to pay more for services than would appear to be reasonably practical. This has resulted in significant differences between the charging policies of local authorities in Wales, and therefore wide variability in the impact on service users. There is a wide range of hourly charge rates and weekly maximums set by local authorities, and differing amounts can be charged by different authorities for similar services. There is also a disparity in the way that benefits and disability-related expenditure are treated in an individual’s assessment. The Welsh Assembly Government believe that the current marked disparities need to be tackled. They argue that service users deserve a charging system that is both transparent and consistent in the way that it operates. The Assembly Government can currently provide statutory guidance to local authorities on charging under Section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970. However, local authorities are able to depart from such guidance and its impact has been limited as a result. It is for the purpose, therefore, of providing the National Assembly with the legislative tools to achieve this clear objective that this order has been brought forward. The order was considered by the Constitution Committee, the Welsh Affairs Committee and a committee of the National Assembly for Wales. This process of scrutiny was rigorous and provided members of the committees, along with interested parties and stakeholders, an opportunity to comment on and question the order. I thank all those involved in carrying out this vital scrutiny. I am pleased to say that the committees supported the order in principle and raised only technical and definitional issues for further consideration. All recommendations arising from their final reports have been considered carefully, and the draft order before the House today reflects the outcome of that consideration. Many of the committees’ recommendations arose from the fact that the order, which was submitted for pre-legislative scrutiny, was reliant on elements of another proposed order covering vulnerable children and child poverty for definitions and exceptions. Many of the definitions in that order were referred to in this order; there has been a lot of discussion about that in the pre-legislative scrutiny. However, the order before us has been laid in advance of the vulnerable children order, and a number of definitions and exceptions have been inserted into it as a result. I am confident that these changes address the concerns raised by the committees. The order will enable the development of the type of distinct ““Made in Wales”” legislation in this area of policy that the Government envisaged in the Government of Wales Act 2006. It will enable the Welsh Assembly Government to continue to improve the lives of some of Wales’s most vulnerable people. The order supports its strategic aims to promote independence and equality for people receiving social care in Wales. It will give the Welsh Assembly Government the means to support their independence further by regulating the setting of charges and removing the wide disparities that currently exist. I therefore commend the order to the House and beg to move. Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 22 May be approved. 22nd report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.—(Baroness Morgan of Drefelin.)