Commissioner for Older People (Wales) Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 46:"Page 3, line 18, leave out ““relevant””" The noble Lord said: This is a probing amendment to ask what is meant by the word ““relevant”” and whether it is needed. It may be a small detail, but scrutinising the small details of legislation is what this House does best. By inserting ““relevant””, are Her Majesty’s Government suggesting that the use of the term ““older people”” is being widened in this context to cover all older people who use the arrangements in subsection (2)? Surely, with the definition of ““older people”” being limited to those aged 60 or over in Clause 17, the use of ““relevant”” is not needed as a preface to them. Could the use of ““relevant”” thus extend the clause to include individuals who are not residents of Wales but make regular trips in which they may use some services under subsection (2)? Could the Minister explain the thinking behind the use of ““relevant”” in this context and whether it is necessary given the definition of ““older people”” in Clause 17? Amendment No. 55 is also a probing amendment relating to Clause 6 and seek to insert a new paragraph in subsection (2). It states that relevant older people in Wales are also those,"““in respect of whom no appropriate regulated services in Wales are provided””." It would enable the commissioner to review and monitor services to older people in Wales that are available but unregulated, and in areas where there is a lack of services, whether regulated or not, which, I suspect, might otherwise fall outside the remit of the Bill. That amendment also relates to our discussion of the meaning of ““relevant”” in Clause 5, which is also used here. In this case, relevant older people may be only those who actually use the service in question. If there is no service to use, there may be nothing for the commissioner to look at in that area. The lack of sufficient services can have just as much an effect on an elderly person’s life as the availability of poorly-run services in terms of the commissioner being able to promote the best interests of the elderly in Wales. So I hope that the Minister will tell us whether the commissioner, under the Bill as it stands, will be able to report and make recommendations where there is a lack of services needed by elderly people. Or can he comment only on current regulated services with regard to his duty to review and monitor the functions that they provide? I beg to move.