APPENDIX 2: CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS
BILL [HL] — GOVERNMENT AMENDMENT
Supplementary memorandum by the Department for
Children, Schools and Families
1. This supplementary memorandum is to accompany
the tabling of a small number of Government amendments to the
Children and Young Persons Bill ahead of Report stage. Some of
these are minor amendments to improve technical clarity which
we do not believe will be of interest to the Delegated Powers
and Regulatory Reform Committee.
2. There is however, one amendment which introduces
a new regulation making power in relation to short breaks to particularly
draw to the attention of the Committee.
Powers conferred on: Secretary of State and Welsh
Ministers
Powers exercised by: Regulations made by Statutory
Instrument
Parliamentary procedure: Affirmative for first
exercise, and negative thereafter
3. Amendment 2 inserts an explicit additional
requirement to the description of services to be provided by local
authorities for the benefit of disabled children in sub paragraph
(1) (c) into Schedule 2, paragraph 6 of the Children Act 1989.
The new provision requires the local authority to provide services
designed to assist individuals who care for disabled children
to continue to do so, or to do so more effectively by giving them
breaks from their caring responsibilities. The performance of
this duty is subject to regulations, new subparagraph (2). The
intention is to use the regulation making power to set out the
minimum requirements that a local authority will be expected to
meet in performance of its duty, to include for example: the types
of service that will constitute provision of breaks for carers;
the processes for planning and commissioning (including consultation
with children and their carers); and the information to be made
available to parents about the services available to them.
4. The intention is that the regulation making
power will not be exercised until 2011, when the local authority
pathfinder projects that are leading the way in delivering the
Government's grant programme "Aiming Higher for Disabled
Children" have been evaluated. This will allow the policy
to be developed in light of the lessons to be learnt from the
initial grant programme and inform the approach to embedding the
service through regulations in the longer term.
5. Given that the regulations will define the
scope and nature of the duty imposed by the new paragraph (6)
(1) (c), the Department believes that it is appropriate for the
first exercise of this power to be attract the affirmative procedure,
and this is provided for in amendments 6 and 10. The Department
believes that it is appropriate for any subsequent exercise of
this power to attract the negative procedure.
6. Finally we would like to take the opportunity
to once again thank the Committee for their work in reviewing
the Children and Young Persons Bill.
Department for Children, Schools and Families
March 2008
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