The Arrangements for Assistance for Persons Making Representations (Wales) Regulations 2019
W.S.I. 2019/205 · Made 6 February 2019
Social Care, Wales
Made 6 February 2019
Laid before the National Assembly for Wales 8 February 2019
Coming into force 1 April 2019
The Welsh Ministers, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 178(4) to (6) of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014f1, make the following Regulations.
Annotations to the whole text
Footnotes
- f1
Contents
- 1Title, commencement and interpretation
- 2Persons not permitted to provide assistance
- 3Information to be provided to persons making representations
- 4Monitoring of compliance with the Regulations
- Signature
- Explanatory note
1Title, commencement and interpretation
The title of these Regulations is the Arrangements for Assistance for Persons Making Representations (Wales) Regulations 2019.
These Regulations come into force on 1 April 2019.
In these Regulations—
-
“the Act” (“y Ddeddf”) means the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014;
-
“young person” (“person ifanc”) means a person who is entitled to make representations under section 176 of the Actf1.
2Persons not permitted to provide assistance
In making arrangements for the provision of assistance to a child or to a young person who is making or intends to make representations under section 174 or 176 of the Act, a local authority may not allow the assistance to be provided by a person who—
is or may be the subject of the representations;
is responsible for the management of a person who is or may be the subject of the representations;
manages the service which is or may be the subject of the representations;
has control over the resources allocated to the service which is or may be the subject of the representations;
is or may become involved in the consideration of the representations on behalf of the local authority.
A local authority may not allow the assistance to be provided by a person if the child or young person making or intending to make representations objects to having assistance from that person.
3Information to be provided to persons making representations
Where a local authority becomes aware that a child or young person intends to make representations under section 174 or 176 of the Act it must—
provide the child or young person with information about advocacy servicesf1, and
offer the child or young person help in obtaining an advocate.
4Monitoring of compliance with the Regulations
A local authority must monitor the steps that it has taken to comply with these Regulations, in particular by keeping a record of each occasion when an advocate provides assistance under arrangements made by the local authority.
Signature
Julie Morgan
Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services, under authority of the Minister for Health and Social Services, one of the Welsh Ministers
6 February 2019
Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
Under section 178(4) and (5) of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, the Welsh Ministers are required to make regulations to make further provision about a local authority’s duty to make arrangements to help children and young persons who want to make representations. This applies to representations by children and young persons about a range of the local authority’s social services functions which affect children and young persons.
These Regulations make provision about the categories of persons who, under the local authority’s arrangements, may not provide assistance to the child or young person.
When a local authority becomes aware that a child or young person wants to make representations, regulation 3 requires the local authority to provide information about advocacy services and help in obtaining the assistance of an advocate.
Regulation 4 requires a local authority to monitor its compliance with these requirements.
The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations.