Randerson Worried about Impact of LCO on Homecare Recipients

5.08.17pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 27th Nov 2007

A former Assembly Minister has warned that government plans to tackle a 'postcode lottery' in domestic care could result in raising charges for all - without a corresponding rise in standards.

Jenny Randerson, AM for Cardiff Central, made her comments in response to a statement from the Deputy Minister for Social Services on the application for a Legislative Competence Order (LCO) asking for the ability to regulate charging for Domiciliary Care. The LCO is in response to variable charging made by Local Authorities for comparable services. WAG does not want to remove the discretion of Local Authorities over whether to charge but wants consistent charging across Wales.

Local Government and Social Services Spokesperson Jenny Randerson AM said "I am worried that we have to go cap in hand to Westminster for every transfer of power and I am also worried about what the Labour Plaid Government has in mind.

"Consistency in charging may lead to a leveling up of charges so that charging is uniformly high and even if you assume that this is not the case, some Local Authorities will lose out in terms of income. I just hope WAG will fill any funding gap. But we must be aware, that even if charges become uniform, there is no guarantee that the service will be equally uniform. The only way to achieve that would be through an unprecedented level of interference in local authority work by the Assembly.

"I have always been a supporter of devolution. I believe the Assembly should have these powers. But the concessions and improvements that could be made within it cannot disguise Labour's cynical betrayal of disabled and elderly people after the U turn on free home care for the disabled in the last Assembly."

Notes:

A Legislative Competence Order transfers legislative authority to the National Assembly for Wales. Each LCO adds a matter to a field which is stated in schedule 5 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. Each matter is then giving the Welsh Assembly Government permission to pass legislation known as an Assembly Measure.

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