Local Government Act 1974 (c. 7)

[F1 Part 3A E+W Investigation of complaints about privately arranged or funded adult social care

Textual Amendments

F1 Pt. 3A inserted (1.10.2010) by Health Act 2009 (c. 21), s. 40(1), Sch. 5 para. 2; S.I. 2010/1863, art. 2

General E+W

34Q Arrangements etc. to be made by Commission E+W

(1) The Commission must—

(a) divide the matters which may be investigated under this Part into such categories as it considers appropriate, and

(b) allocate, or make arrangements for allocating, responsibility for each category of matter to one or more of the Local Commissioners.

(2) The Commission—

(a) must make arrangements for Local Commissioners to deal with matters for which they do not have responsibility pursuant to subsection (1), and

(b) must publish information about the procedures for making complaints under this Part.

34R Review, recommendations, advice and guidance E+W

(1) In each financial year in which the Commission conducts a review under section 23(12), it must also review the operation (since the last review was made under this subsection) of the provisions of this Part about the investigation of matters.

(2) The Commission may convey to government departments and the Care Quality Commission any recommendations or conclusions reached in the course of a review under subsection (1).

(3) The Commission may—

(a) provide to adult social care providers or any adult social care provider such advice and guidance about good practice as appears to the Commission to be appropriate, and

(b) arrange for the advice and guidance to be published for the information of the public.

(4) Before providing advice or guidance under subsection (3) the Commission must consult such persons as appear to it to be appropriate.

34S Annual reports E+W

(1) Every Local Commissioner must for each financial year—

(a) prepare a general report on the discharge of the Local Commissioner's functions under this Part, and

(b) submit it to the Commission not later than 2 months after the end of the year to which it relates.

(2) The Commission must for each financial year prepare a general report on the discharge of its functions under this Part (the “Part 3A annual report”).

(3) The Part 3A annual report must be prepared as soon as may be after the Commission has received the reports for the year from Local Commissioners under subsection (1).

(4) The Commission must arrange for the publication of—

(a) the Part 3A annual report, and

(b) the reports which are submitted under subsection (1).

(5) The Commission must lay a copy of the Part 3A annual report before Parliament.

34T Interpretation of Part 3A E+W

(1) In this Part—

• “adult social care” and “adult social care provider” have the meanings given by section 34A;

• “Health Service Commissioner” means the Health Service Commissioner for England;

• “the HSCA 1993” means the Health Service Commissioners Act 1993;

• “the PCA 1967” means the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967;

• “person affected”—

  (a)

  in relation to a matter which is the subject of a complaint made or to be made under this Part, means a member of the public who claims or is alleged to have sustained injustice in consequence of the matter, and

  (b)

  in relation to a matter coming to the attention of a Local Commissioner to which section 34E applies, means the member of the public who the Local Commissioner considers has, or may have, sustained injustice in consequence of the matter;

• “the PSOWA 2005” means the Public Services Ombudsman (Wales) Act 2005;

• [F2 “the PSOWA 2019” means the Public Services Ombudsman (Wales) Act 2019,]

• “the SPSOA 2002” means the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002.

(2) The following terms have the same meaning in this Part as they have in Part 3—

(a) action (and other expressions connoting action) (see section 34);

(b) the Commission (see section 34);

(c) local authority (see section 34);

(d) Local Commissioner (see section 23(3));

(e) Parliamentary Commissioner (see section 34).

(3) Section 34(1A) applies for the purposes of this Part as it applies for the purposes of Part 3.]

Textual Amendments

F2 Words in s. 34T(1) inserted (23.7.2019) by Public Services Ombudsman (Wales) Act 2019 (anaw 3), s. 77(1), Sch. 5 para. 9; S.I. 2019/1096, reg. 2