Wednesday 19 March 2014

Assembly actualy do domething useful.

At last we see the Assembly actually doing something useful

A landmark Bill which aims to revolutionise how social services are deliver in Wales passed its final Assembly hurdle last night.

Assembly Members voted through the "Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Bill " into law, meaning it will now go forward for Royal Assent.

 Assembly Members voted by 53-5 to pass the law, with the Liberal Democrats voting against.

According to La Pasionaria at Subordinate Central this is was because
 
The Welsh Liberal Democrats are deeply concerned about the impact of the recent trend of fast tracked and emergency legislation on the ability of the Assembly to properly scrutinise legislation.
Close examination of these bills has highlighted a lack of evidence and detail which are the hallmarks and result of a poorly drafted Bill, rushed through the legislative process without sufficient opportunity for scrutiny. This is no way to make legislation that will ultimately affect people’s lives.
We are also concerned about the Welsh Labour Government’s tactic of introducing framework bills that rely heavily on regulations to flesh out the detail. These regulations are not subject to the same scrutiny as bills, so we are effectively being asked to vote on legislation without knowing who it will affect and what its impact will be. Again, this is simply not acceptable. This is not just a case of process, Bills such as the Social Care Bill will have impact upon some of the most vulnerable people in Wales and it is our responsibility to ensure they are effective.
There are a number of large bills coming up in the legislative programme and it is vital that the Welsh Labour Government ends these detrimental tactics to allow the Assembly to properly scrutinise the legislation that is coming before us.
If her argument is valid and it may well be. Though whether this is a valid reason to oppose the bill unless ts a case of making a point,  it looks like this is a case for Increasing assembly members so that members serve on less committees and can devote more time to the ones they are on to fleshing out the details of such Bills..

 
Changes rubber-stamped by AMs in the final stages yesterday included a Plaid Cymru amendment placing a legal duty on local authorities to provide support for care leavers who wish to stay with their carers after 18, while a further amendment ensures care workers are allocated enough time to carry out the tasks that are required of them.

But a Plaid bid to outlaw zero-hours contracts in the care sector was voted down by Labour and the Conservatives, with the Deputy Minister for Social Services, Gwenda Thomas, questioning whether it would be within the Assembly’s powers

Again if this is true and lets find out  we should be shouting for this power now. But one wonders how committed Labour are to opposing Zero contracts .It would surely make the aims of the Bill to improve the running  Social care if people are employed on Zero contracts.

We surely end to see the providers of Social care are not only committed to the job but are also have a felling that they have a full or part-time career..

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Welsh Lib Dems voted against for 2 main reasons: 1) The Bill does not make clear who is eligible. This is a rather major thing! 2) The Govt has said the Bill is 'cost neutral'. But it is clear that is not the case. If the maths is already completely wrong, then we're in trouble.

They also called for the end of '15 min care'.

Labour voting against zero hour contracts because it is not in the Assembly's powers is a complete cop out.