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The Powers of the National Assembly for Wales.
Richard Commission Consultation.
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The response of Age Concern Cymru
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| Introduction |
| Age Concern Cymru addresses the
questions asked by the Richard Commission from the perspective
of achieving our organisation's mission to improve the
lives of all older people in Wales. In pursuit of this,
one of our main aims is to make a significant contribution
to the formulation and review of policy. |
| Age Concern in Wales is made
up of Age Concern Cymru and 27 locally based independent
Age Concern organisations. Our activities include campaigning,
research, advocacy, information, help at home, support
for forums of older people and befriending services. Age
Concern organisations in Wales deal with over 34,000 enquiries
a year from or on behalf of older people. Through its
combination of an all-Wales presence and local community
based organisations, Age Concern in Wales is able to be
in touch with issues affecting older people. |
Response to the issues raised by the Commission
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| The views of older people |
In 2001 Age Concern Cymru organised focus groups of older
people in each local authority area of Wales as part of
the development of the National Assembly for Wales Strategy
for Older People involving 314 older people. 1 Firstly, this was a positive exercise and an effective
partnership with the Government of Wales. Secondly, the
discussions in the groups included views of the relationship
between Wales and Westminster as it affected issues such
as pensions. The following comment from a focus group
sums up well the views of many of the participants: |
The National Assembly should take more notice of pensioners
and their representatives, to put forward and fight the
Westminster Government with requests that are put forward
to them. Instead of saying that it's government rules
and there is nothing we can do' |
`The focus group participants did want the National
Assembly to take a view on issues, which are important
in Wales even if the powers to address them lie with Westminster.
They wanted the National Assembly to be representing the
interests of the people of Wales to Westminster. In general
the participants viewed the National Assembly favourably.
They welcomed for example free bus travel for pensioners
from April 2002. However, they thought the National Assembly
should be seeking further powers and more money from Westminster.
Many questioned why the Scottish Executive had more powers
than the National Assembly. The provision of free nursing
and personal care was welcome in Scotland but it was thought
unfair that the National Assembly could not take similar
measures in Wales. |
Relationship with Westminster |
Age Concern Cymru has found that there is a lack of clarity
over the powers of the National Assembly. This causes
confusion with the public, and even those closely involved
with the Assembly seem unsure of its powers. This undermines
public confidence and makes effective contribution to
policy debates more difficult. The following are some
examples of this: |
a) The case for free personal care in Wales illustrates
well the difficulties and confusion over the current arrangements
over the powers of the National Assembly. The National
Assembly voted unanimously in May 2002 to support the
recommendations of the Royal Commission on Long Term Care
for free personal care in principle, but said that implementation
would depend upon the Westminster Government. The debate
in the lead up to this had been characterised by confusion
about whether or not the National Assembly had the powers
to act alone and whether the issue was one of affordability
or of legislative powers. |
The compromise position, of support in principle, was
a step forward because it did mean the Welsh Assembly
Government took a view and there was a baseline consensus
from which to take the issue forward. The extent to which
progress could be made in Wales in the direction of free
personal care is still a contested area. There is, therefore,
an additional layer of complexity in the debate on this
and on other issues. There is the substantive policy discussion
on the issue and there is the question of the scope the
Assembly powers give to affect policy change. However,
the existence of the Assembly does make more progress
possible, for policy-change in Wales determined in Wales,
than was previously the case. |
The National Assembly took the decision to `challenge
the UK Government to fund and implement free personal
care in the
context of UK taxation, benefits and inheritance policy
as the Royal Commission intended'. It is by no means clear
however, that an effective mechanism exists for such a
challenge to be made. Age Concern Cymru believes it is
important that the right of the National Assembly to make
representations to Westminster on issues over which the
Assembly does not have powers, but which are important
to Wales, should have clear effective structural expression. |
b) The Commissioner for Older People. The Welsh Assembly
Government is committed to establishing a post of Commissioner
for Older People. There is strong support for an effective
Commissioner and real concern about the possibility of
tokenism. However, it remains to be seen whether the Commissioner
for Older People will be established through primary legislation.
If so the National Assembly will be dependent on goodwill
and legislative time in Westminster if it decides that
primary legislation is needed in order to make this a
fully effective post. |
c) The National Service Framework for older people is
still being developed in Wales, two years after it was
implemented in England. In relation to funding streams,
there is often lack of clarity and confusion when there
is an Westminster announcement made on a new policy initiative
on whether this applies to Wales as well as England. |
d) Key areas identified by older people for policy intervention
are pensions, ending age discrimination in health, employment,
goods and services and crime safety. There is much the
Assembly could do to contribute to these debates but presently
it does not seem to be engaging with Westminster in these
areas. |
Confusion about where responsibility lies does open up
opportunities for bodies to shift blame and avoid accountability.
The important issue here is clarity and transparency about
which decisions are taken where. |
Policy development and implementation |
There is great potential in the ability to create secondary
legislation in Wales. The capacity to take advantage of
this potential is a major issue. It is an issue for Assembly
members and committees, and also for organisations such
as Age Concern Cymru, which aim to monitor and contribute
to policy affecting older people as well as to keep older
people informed about legislation in Wales. Policy capacity
is slowly increasing and this is a positive result of
the establishment of the National Assembly. The policy
capacity deficit is, however, a significant challenge. |
Age Concern Cymru has seen positive instances of scrutiny
of policy by the National Assembly. An example of this
is the time devoted by the Health and Social Services
Committee to the proposed guidance for local authorities
on charging for domiciliary care. Organisations concerned
about this issue had asked for time to be spent on this
and the Committee listened and responded positively. A
number of key changes resulted from the scrutiny, including
a commitment to take another look at the treatment of
disability related benefits. |
This was an important issue for many vulnerable people
and the Committee carried out a significant task in focussing
on it. |
Age Concern Cymru have also seen the following good examples
of policy development: |
a) The Strategy for Older People was developed by the
National Assembly in close consultation with older people,
voluntary and statutory organisations. This was a positive
process, which gave the resulting recommendations real
credibility. The ability to focus attention on a policy
area and to bring about effective participation is an
important attribute of the National Assembly. The Strategy
has all party support, and identified key areas of consensus.
There are advantages in identifying consensus where it
exists and it is positive that the Strategy for Older
People has all-party support. It makes for stability in
policy, which needs to be long term to be effective. |
b)The use of expert advice on advisory panels is a means
of using knowledge in Wales and is effective in dealing
with difficult issues. Age Concern Cymru would like to
see further involvement of subject committees in policy
development as well as carrying out their scrutiny functions
robustly. |
| c)The all Party Group on Older
People and Ageing in the Assembly has been a positive
development. It consists of Assembly Members with Age
Concern Cymru providing the secretariat. The group responded
to the consultation on the Strategy for Older People and
plans to focus on specific pieces of work concerning older
people. |
d) The attendance of members of the Welsh Affairs Select
Committee at the meeting at which the Assembly Health
and Social Services Committee looked at the draft NHS
(Wales) Bill was a useful way of central government and
the National Assembly working together. |
e) The generation of the political party manifestos for
the 2003 National Assembly elections provided a further
opportunity to focus on Wales and the potential to influence
policy thinking. Age Concern Cymru saw this as positive
and was pleased by the evident responsiveness and willingness
to listen on the part of the parties. The process of putting
together Age Concern Cymru's own key messages for the
National Assembly elections was also a challenge in part
because there was a need to identify the messages for
the National Assembly to take action itself and where
it should work with Westminster. The resulting document
is included with this submission. |
Conclusion |
Age Concern Cymru has set out some issues the Commission
should consider in its deliberations on the powers of
the National Assembly. The National Assembly has undoubtedly
brought about much greater access to decision makers.
A measure of the effectiveness of the National Assembly
will be: |
• its inclusiveness
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• the creation of policy reflecting the concerns
of people
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• informed discussion and debate
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• quality policy development.
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The National Assembly needs to make a measurable difference
for the better to the lives of people in Wales. Greater
clarity over the powers of the National Assembly and its
relationship with Westminster Government would assist
this process. |
Age Concern Cymru
25 July 2003 |
| 1
Age Concern Cymru (2001) Report of the Age Concern
Consultation Focus Groups held with older people on developing
the National Assembly for Wales Strategy for Older People. |
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