Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016

Responsible individuals

21 Responsible individuals

(1) In this Part, “responsible individual” means an individual—

(a) who is eligible to be a responsible individual under subsection (2),

(b) who the Welsh Ministers are satisfied is a fit and proper person to be a responsible individual (see section 9), and

(c) designated by a service provider in respect of a place at, from or in relation to which the provider provides a regulated service and specified as such in the service provider’s registration.

(2) To be eligible to be a responsible individual the individual must—

(a) where the service provider is an individual, be the service provider;

(b) where the service provider is a partnership, be one of the partners;

(c) where the service provider is a body corporate other than a local authority—

(i) be a director or similar officer of the body,

(ii) in the case of a public limited company, be a director or company secretary, or

(iii) in the case of a body corporate whose affairs are managed by its members, be a member of the body;

(d) where the service provider is an unincorporated body, be a member of the body;

(e) where the service provider is a local authority, be an officer of the local authority designated by the authority’s director of social services.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2)(e), a local authority’s director of social services may designate an officer only if the director thinks that the officer has the necessary experience and expertise to be a responsible individual.

(4) The same responsible individual may be designated in relation to more than one place at, from or in relation to which a regulated service is provided.

(5) The Welsh Ministers may, by regulations—

(a) specify circumstances in which the Welsh Ministers (instead of a service provider) may designate an individual to be a responsible individual despite the requirements of subsection (2) not being met in respect of the individual, and

(b) make provision for this Part to apply with prescribed modifications to such a responsible individual.

22 Cancellation of designation of a responsible individual

(1) The Welsh Ministers may cancel a responsible individual’s designation only on one or more of the following grounds—

(a) they have reason to believe the individual no longer satisfies the requirements of section 21(2);

(b) they have reason to believe the individual has been convicted of, or has been given a caution in respect of, a relevant offence in connection with a regulated service provided by the service provider;

(c) they are no longer satisfied that the individual is a fit and proper person to be a responsible individual (see section 9);

(d) they have reason to believe that the individual has not complied with a requirement imposed on the individual by regulations under section 28(1).

(2) In subsection (1)(b), “relevant offence” has the same meaning as in section 15.

(3) If the Welsh Ministers propose to cancel a responsible individual’s designation they must give the individual an improvement notice.

(4) An improvement notice given under subsection (3) must specify—

(a) the reason why the Welsh Ministers propose to cancel the responsible individual’s designation,

(b) either—

(i) action that they think the individual must take, or

(ii) information they think the individual must provide,

in order to satisfy them that the individual’s designation should not be cancelled, and

(c) a time limit within which the action must be taken or the information must be provided.

(5) If the Welsh Ministers are not satisfied that—

(a) action specified in an improvement notice has been taken, or

(b) information so specified has been provided,

within the time limit specified in the notice they may give a notice of cancellation.

(6) The Welsh Ministers may give a notice of cancellation of a responsible individual’s designation without taking the steps mentioned in subsections (3) to (5) if they have reasonable cause to believe that unless the designation is cancelled a person will or may be exposed to a risk of harm.

(7) A notice of cancellation must be given to—

(a) the responsible individual, and

(b) the service provider who designated the individual.

(8) An individual ceases to be designated as a responsible individual when the notice of cancellation is given to the service provider.

(9) A notice of cancellation must—

(a) give reasons for the decision,

(b) explain the right of appeal conferred by section 26,

(c) explain the requirement on the service provider to apply for variation of registration (see section 11(1)(c)), and

(d) state the time limit prescribed under section 11(2) (prescribed time limit for applying to designate a new responsible individual).

(10) In subsection (6), “harm” means abuse or impairment of—

(a) physical or mental health, or

(b) physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development,

and in a case where the harm relates to the impairment of a child’s health or development, the child’s health or development is to be compared with that which could reasonably be expected of a similar child.