Carers (Equal Opportunities) Bill

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Clause 6

Minor and consequential amendments

Amendment made: No. 6, in

    clause 6, page 3, leave out lines 18 to 22 and insert—

    'Section (Co-operation between authorities), in so far as it confers functions on a local authority within the meaning of that section.

    Co-operation between authorities.'' '.

    —[Dr. Ladyman.]

Clause 6, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 7 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 8 disagreed to.

Clause 9

Short title, commencement and extent

Amendment made: No. 8, in

    clause 9, page 4, line 22, at end insert

    'section (Co-operation between authorities) of'.—[Dr. Ladyman.]

Clause 9, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

New clause 1

Duty to inform carers of right to assessment

    '(1) In section 1 of the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 (c.12) (assessment of ability of carers to provide care), after subsection (2A) there is inserted—

    ''(2B) In any case where—

    (a) a local authority are carrying out an assessment mentioned in paragraph (a) of either subsection (1) or subsection (2) above in relation to the relevant person or (as the case may be) a disabled child, and

    (b) it appears to the local authority that an individual may be entitled to request (but has not requested) an assessment under the subsection in question of his ability to provide and to continue to provide care for the relevant person or the disabled child,

    the local authority must inform the individual that he may be so entitled before they make their decision as to the needs of the relevant person or the disabled child.''

    (2) After section 6 of the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 (c.16) there is inserted—

    ''6A Duty to inform carers of right to assessment

    (1) Subsection (2) applies if it appears to a local authority that it would be required to carry out a carer's assessment on being asked to do so by—

    (a) the carer, or

    (b) a person with parental responsibility for a disabled child (''the responsible person'').

    (2) The local authority must inform the carer or, as appropriate, the responsible person that he may be entitled to a carer's assessment (but this is subject to subsections (3) and (4)).

    (3) Subsection (2) does not apply in relation to the carer if the local authority has previously—

    (a) carried out a carer's assessment for him in relation to the person cared for,

    (b) informed him that he may be entitled to a carer's assessment in relation to the person cared for, or

    (c) carried out an assessment of him under section 4(3) of the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc.) Act 2003 (c.5) in relation to the person cared for.

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    (4) Subsection (2) does not apply in relation to the responsible person if the local authority has previously carried out a carer's assessment for him in relation to the disabled child or informed him that he may be entitled to a carer's assessment in relation to the disabled child.

    (5) In this section ''carer's assessment'' means—

    (a) in the case of the carer, an assessment under section 1 of his ability to provide and to continue to provide care for the person cared for,

    (b) in the case of the responsible person, an assessment under section 6 of his ability to provide and to continue to provide care for the disabled child.''.'.

    —[Dr. Ladyman.]

Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.

New clause 2

Assessment of carers

    '(1) In section 1 of the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 (c.12) (assessment of ability of carers to provide care), after subsection (2B) (inserted by section (Duty to inform carers of right to assessment)) there is inserted—

    ''(2C) An assessment under subsection (1) or (2) above must include consideration of whether the carer—

    (a) works or wishes to work,

    (b) is undertaking, or wishes to undertake, education, training or any leisure activity.''

    (2) In section 1 of the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 (c.16) (right of carer to assessment), after subsection (3) there is inserted—

    ''(3A) An assessment under subsection (1) must include consideration of whether the carer—

    (a) works or wishes to work,

    (b) is undertaking, or wishes to undertake, education, training or any leisure activity.''

    (3) In section 6 of that Act (assessment of person with parental responsibility caring for disabled child), after subsection (2) there is inserted—

    ''(2A) An assessment under subsection (1) must include consideration of whether the person with parental responsibility for the child—

    (a) works or wishes to work,

    (b) is undertaking, or wishes to undertake, education, training or any leisure activity.'''.

    —[Dr. Ladyman.]

Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.

New clause 3

Co-operation between authorities

    '(1) If a local authority requests an authority mentioned in subsection (5) to assist it in planning the provision of services to persons—

    (a) entitled to an assessment under any of the provisions mentioned in subsection (4), or

    (b) for whom those persons provide, or intend to provide, a substantial amount of care on a regular basis,

    the authority mentioned in subsection (5) must give due consideration to the request.

    (2) Subsection (3) applies if—

    (a) under a provision mentioned in subsection (4) a local authority is assessing, or has assessed, the ability of a person (''the carer'') to provide and to continue to provide care for another person (''the person cared for''), and

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    (b) the local authority forms the view that the carer's ability to provide and to continue to provide care for the person cared for might be enhanced by the provision of services (whether for the carer or the person cared for) by an authority mentioned in subsection (5).

    (3) If the local authority requests such an authority to provide any such services the authority or person must give due consideration to the request.

    (4) The provisions are—

    (a) section 1 of the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 (c.12), and

    (b) sections 1 and 6 of the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 (c.16).

    (5) The authorities are—

    (a) any other local authority,

    (b) any local education authority,

    (c) any local housing authority, and

    (d) any Special Health Authority, Local Health Board, Primary Care Trust, National Health Service Trust or NHS foundation trust.

    (6) Subsections (1) and (3) do not apply in relation to any action which could be the subject of a request by the local authority to the authority mentioned in subsection (5) under section 27 of the Children Act 1989 (c.41).

    (7) In this section—

    ''local authority'' has the same meaning as in section 46 of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 (c.19),

    ''local education authority'' has the same meaning as in the Education Act 1996 (c.56), and

    ''local housing authority'' has the same meaning as in the Housing Act 1985 (c.68).'—[Dr. Ladyman.]

Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.

Title

Dr. Ladyman: I beg to move amendment No. 9, in

    title, line 1, leave out from beginning to 'place' in line 2.

I thank you, Mr. Benton, for your chairmanship, and I thank the Committee for its co-operation and constructive approach. In particular, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Aberavon for all his hard work in getting the Bill to this stage. I especially thank all the officials, not only in my Department but in many others as well, who have worked frantically hard to secure agreement on the amendments and the progress of the Bill. My own officials have done a huge amount of work in a short period of time to help to get the Bill to this stage.

I hope that in a few minutes I will be able to acknowledge that the Government can support the Bill, and that Sam's Bill is well on its way to becoming Sam's Act.

Dr. Francis: May I add my thanks to the Minister's, particularly to you, Mr. Benton, for your wise and helpful chairmanship? I also thank all the Bill's sponsors and the members of the Standing Committee. It is invidious to single anyone out, but given that the Bill has had such broad, cross-party support, I should like to thank in particular the hon. Members for Wycombe, representing the official Opposition, for Sutton and Cheam, for Caernarfon (Hywel Williams), and for East Antrim (Mr. Beggs). The range of parties that supported the Bill is indicated by their presence in the Committee.

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I also thank the Minister and his officials. We have had an open discussion at all times and he was always open to reasonable persuasion. I thank Jane Hutt, the Minister for Health and Social Services, and her officials in the Welsh Assembly. She was always an enthusiastic supporter of the Bill. Finally, I again thank Carers UK and Carers Wales, and all the local carers organisations that have written to me on behalf of the many millions of carers. I should like to single out once again my own local authority, Neath Port Talbot county borough council and its social services department, and the Neath Port Talbot local health board, for their invaluable advice.

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My right hon. Friend the Member for Coatbridge and Chryston (Mr. Clarke) recently asked me how far we had travelled with the Bill. I would characterise it as a journey of hope for carers. What is most gratifying is that, as we have progressed, we all seem to have travelled in the same direction, and I hope that by the end of the afternoon, we shall have completed another important stage of the journey together.

Amendment agreed to.

Bill, as amended, to be reported.

Committee rose at six minutes to Four o'clock.

The following Members attended the Committee:
Benton, Mr. Joe (Chairman)
Beggs, Mr.
Bottomley, Virginia
Browning, Mrs.
Burstow, Mr.
Caton, Mr.
Clapham, Mr.
David, Mr.
Dean, Mrs.
Edwards, Mr.
Francis, Dr.
Goodman, Mr.
Griffiths, Jane
Havard, Mr.
Knight, Jim
Ladyman, Dr.
Picking, Anne
Turner, Mr. Andrew
Williams, Mrs. Betty
Williams, Hywel

 
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