Clause 3
Commissioner for Older People (Wales) Bill [Lords]
12:30 pm
Adam Price (Spokesperson (Defence; Transport; Economy & Taxation; Miners Compensation; Regeneration; Trade & Industry); Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, Plaid Cymru)
This amendment and those standing in the name of the hon. Member for Ceredigion approach the devolution problem from a different direction. One would not get very far in my party without a vast reservoir of optimism, so we will try to have the debate once again. The amendment tries to address the problem in a slightly different way. Rather than giving the commissioner unconstrained power to conduct the same kind of review in relation to non-devolved areas, the amendment and the others in the group name specific bodies that we want to add to the list of bodies that the commissioner should have a statutory power to review.
The amendment focuses on the economic context for many older people. I am not sure how many Marxists are left in the Labour party, but the economic base is still important. What can be more important to the welfare of older people than the tax and benefits system? We can debate the age definition, which is addressed in a subsequent set of amendments, but there are still some issues relating to the labour market which affect older people.
There is a strong argument for affording the commissioner the right to conduct a formal review of benefits, because such matters will be very much to the fore for individual older people and their representative organisations. The issue is addressed in the Welsh Assembly’s older people’s strategy, which I have commended—I can be very gracious. It is fantastic to see that Wales has innovated socially, through its comprehensive older people’s strategy. We might disagree about its implementation, but we agree with many of the aims that it sets out, one of which is to combat poverty among older people and to promote a greater uptake of benefits. The Assembly has made that part of its strategy, but has not distinguished between devolved and non-devolved matters.
The commissioner must be able to conduct formal reviews of the way in which Jobcentre Plus and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs operate in Wales. We may be able to distinguish issues of policy, but the way in which their operations are conducted needs to be part of the commissioner’s purview. That is what the amendment seeks to do, otherwise the commissioner will have to send a letter or pick up the telephone every week to make representations because he or she will be unable to conduct a formal review in relation to any of the matters that our constituents will want to raise with the commissioner simply because they are non-devolved. I suggest that for non-devolved agencies it would be sensible to come up with a different formula that allows the commissioner to become involved in reviewing their activities.