(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order appoints 1st July 2001 as the day on which section 98 of the Care Standards Act 2000 (“the Act”) is to come into force in relation to Wales.
Section 98 of the Act amends the Protection of Children Act 1999 (“the 1999 Act”). The effect of the amendments is:
(a)a local authority in Wales may refer to the Secretary of State, for the purposes of his functions under section 1 of the 1999 Act, an individual who is or has been employed to provide care to a child, where the authority funds that care under section 17A of the Children Act 1989 (“the 1989 Act”)(1), if they consider that the individual has been guilty of misconduct which harmed, or placed at risk of harm, a child(2);
(b)where a person who employs or proposes to employ an individual to provide care to a child under section 17A of the 1989 Act requests the funding local authority to ascertain whether the individual is included in the list kept under section 1 of the 1999 Act (or certain other lists mentioned in section 7 of the 1999 Act) the local authority shall ascertain whether the individual is included in any of those lists;
(c)where a local authority is required to ascertain whether an individual is included in any of the lists mentioned in (b) above it is sufficient for the authority to satisfy itself that, on a date within the last twelve months, the organisation which supplied the individual ascertained whether he or she was so included if the authority also obtains written confirmation of the facts as ascertained by the organisation.
Section 17A of the 1989 Act permits social services authorities in certain circumstances to make direct payments to a person with parental responsibility for a disabled child or to a disabled child aged 16 or 17 in respect of their securing the provision of services for the disabled child under section 17 of the 1989 Act in order to safeguard and promote their welfare. Section 17A is inserted by section 7(1) of the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 with effect from 1st July 2001 in relation to Wales.
Under section 1 of the 1999 Act the Secretary of State is to maintain a list of persons considered unsuitable to work with children.