Therefore, I call on the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services to move the motions. Julie Morgan. 

Motion NDM6944 Rebecca Evans

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales; in accordance with Standing Order 27.5

1. Approves that the draft The Adult Placement Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2019 is made in accordance with the draft laid in the Table Office on 10 December 2018.

Motion NDM6945 Rebecca Evans

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales; in accordance with Standing Order 27.5

1.  Approves that the draft The Regulated Advocacy Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2019 is made in accordance with the draft laid in the Table Office on 10 December 2018.

Motion NDM6943 Rebecca Evans

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales; in accordance with Standing Order 27.5

1.  Approves that the draft The Regulated Fostering Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2019 is made in accordance with the draft laid in the Table Office on 11 December 2018.

Motions moved.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I move the motions.

The Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Bill was passed unanimously three years ago. Through phased implementation of the Act, we're establishing a new system of regulation and inspection of social care providers that is robust, streamlined and citizen-focused. The new system better enables Care Inspectorate Wales to take an overview of the whole service, makes registration with the inspectorate easier, and supports citizens to access key information when choosing their care and support. Furthermore, it seeks to ensure that regulated services provided in Wales will be registered and inspected in Wales.

Ensuring consistency in the requirements on regulated services under the Act has been one of our main policy objectives. Therefore, where possible, the requirements on providers and responsible individuals of adult placement, advocacy and fostering services through these regulations before us today equate with those approved by this Assembly and brought into force at phase 2.

But we have been mindful that each service has its own distinct attributes and should be regulated accordingly. Therefore, we have worked extensively with stakeholders to tailor certain requirements to ensure best fit with how each service is delivered in practice without compromising the overall standards expected. Each of these regulations include core requirements in relation to the governance of the service, the way it is carried out, its staffing, and how it safeguards and supports people. They also secure a focus on outcomes and the well-being of individuals and include matters underpinning quality, safety and improvement. Where providers or responsible individuals fall short, the regulations clearly specify which breaches will or may be treated as an offence. The regulations are supported by statutory guidance, which sets out in greater detail how providers and responsible individuals may comply with the requirements.

The 2016 Act sees the regulation and inspection of advocacy services for the first time. Following consultation at phase 1 and with the support of the sector, we are currently focusing on advocacy arranged by local authorities under their duties to assist children, including looked-after children, and certain care leavers who wish to make representations in relation to their need for care and support. I do believe this is a proportionate first step, presenting an opportunity to learn before considering extension to the wider sector. 

Officials have engaged with key stakeholders from an early stage in the development of these regulations. This has helped identify crucial adjustments to the phase 2 blueprint to make it work in particular services' context. With post-consultation changes and further clarification within the guidance, I believe we have achieved this. An example of this includes changes to the wording of the adult placement regulations to reflect the importance of matching individuals with compatible families, rather than simply arranging a placement. These regulations also now build in the need for providers to require adult placement carers to notify them within 24 hours of any exercise of control and restraint methods. The service provider is then required to make a record of the incident immediately, minimising risk of delay. A similar amendment has been made in respect of fostering services. 

Responding to feedback, the exemption from regulation for a person who provides advocacy to four or fewer persons in a year has been amended so that sibling groups can be considered as a single instance. This now applies whether the provider is an individual or an organisation. The consultation also promoted a change to the duty of candour, removing the requirement to act in an open and transparent way with service commissioners, which consultees felt could be at odds with the primary purpose of advocacy, which is to consider and help represent the views of individuals while ensuring their right to confidentiality. 

There have been a number of key alterations prompted by stakeholders to enhance requirements on providers of regulated fostering services, and these include: expanding requirement to notify relevant parties of any incident of child sexual exploitation to cover criminal exploitation too; requiring providers to include information from their policies and procedures that is relevant to children's needs within the young people's written guide to the service; expanding requirements regarding health and development of children to encompass their physical, mental and emotional health and development; and including express reference to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child's article 31, a right to play, and to pathway plans for young people over 16.

A requirement has also been added for a provider's policy and procedures to ensure adequate oversight of savings that are made on behalf of children, including passing on records at the end of their placement, and this addresses issues that were raised by a recent ombudsman case in Bridgend. Finally, transitional provision has been included within the regulations in respect of service managers registration with social care Wales. For adult placements and fostering, this requirement has been deferred until April 2022 and advocacy until September 2022 in order to provide time for new and existing managers to gain the qualifications to register where these have not already been attained. Thank you very much.

I'd like to thank the Deputy Minister very much for her statement and to ensure her that Plaid Cymru will be supporting, obviously, these regulations today. I just wish to raise with the Deputy Minister one particular use of language in the regulated fostering services regulations. We refer in the regulations to 'foster parents'. The Deputy Minister will be very aware that that is no longer the term that is routinely used in the sector and there are very good reasons for that. Using the term 'foster carer' recognises the professionalism of foster carers, which I know the Deputy Minister is very well aware of. Also, using the term 'foster parents' can also create difficulties particularly for older children, who may still have very strong feelings for their own biological parents—they may be hoping to return, many of them will return—and using the term 'foster parent' can actually put a barrier between the foster carer and the child or young person they're taking care of. It can also be a term that can be confusing for children who eventually end up being adopted, because their foster carer is not actually going to be, very often, their long-term parent. So, I would just like to ask the Deputy Minister to clarify why we are still using a term that I think the sector on the whole, and particularly young people who are care experienced, are not enamoured of, not particularly keen on, and whether it would be possible—it's not a reason, certainly, to oppose these regulations today, but whether it would be possible, going forward, to consider a more appropriate and more contemporary use of language. I suspect that it may be that this is the right language to use in these regulations because it may fall out of the primary legislation, but I do think that it is something that we should be very careful of. Foster carers are not, and are not seeking to be, parents, though they do offer, of course, very often, the kind of love and support that the best parents do.

I call on the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services to reply.

Thank you very much. And thank you very much to Helen Mary Jones for her contribution to the debate. She's absolutely right—the reason we use the words 'foster parent' is because that is the wording used in the legislation, and so that's why we have to use it in these regulations. But she makes a very important point, and, of course, for young people in particular, they do not see their foster carers as parents, as they have their own parents, and it's often very difficult for them to come to terms with that sort of language. So, I absolutely accept the point that she makes, and I think that is something that the Welsh Government would want to support at other times, when you use that expression. But here we can't do it because it is the legislation. So, with those comments I move the motions.

Thank you very much. The proposal is to agree the motion under item 6. Does any Member object? Therefore, the motion under item 6 is agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

The proposal is to agree the motion under item 7. Does any Member object? Therefore, the motion under item 7 is agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

The proposal is to agree the motion under item 8. Does any Member object? The motion under item 8 is therefore agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.