Commissioner for Older People (Wales) Bill [HL]

Yes, I would hope that he would have that discretion, and it would be sensible to take them into account. I hope that, if he accepted the representations that he received in providing the service of the kind that I have described, he would want to take into account the budgetary consequences. However, as I understand Amendment No. 23, he could take account of them, take a decision that he wanted to support the recommendation, and then enforce it. The only question that I have is how far we are going to give the commission the power to enforce such issues. With regard to specific individuals’ rights in a particular circumstance, it could end up in a recommendation and the recommendation could be enforced, with considerable budgetary consequences for the various respective authorities delivering the services. Does one want to give the commissioner that kind of power—to override the decisions of an elected body, such as an Assembly Government department, which has gone through its budget processes and has been supported by the health committee of the Assembly and by the Assembly as a whole, which then finds the commissioner saying that it must spend more money on one service as supposed to another? I raise the matter because it highlights a fundamental issue of the relationship interface between an appointed commissioner and the democratic decision-making processes of government.