Queen's Speech heralds major changes in care cases, local audit and pensions

Major reforms affecting care proceedings, local audit and public service pensions were among the measures unveiled in the Queen’s Speech today.

However, reforms to adult care law appear to have been delayed with the relevant Bill only in draft.

The Families and Children Bill will include changes to the court processes for children in care, including the much-vaunted six-month deadline for completion of the vast majority of care proceedings.

Under this legislation:

  • It would be made explicit that case management decisions should only be made after impacts on the child, their needs and timetable have been considered;
  • The court would be focused on those issues which are essential to deciding whether to make a care order;
  • The requirement for interim care and supervision orders to be renewed every month by the judge would be removed. Instead the judge would be allowed to set the length and renewal requirements of interim orders for a period which he or she considers appropriate, up to the expected time limit;
  • There would be a requirement for the courts to have regard to the impact of delay on the child when commissioning expert evidence and whether the court can obtain information from parties already involved;
  • The role of Children’s Commissioner would be strengthened. It will have more powers to promote and protect children’s rights and take on functions currently carried out by the Children’s Rights Director (part of Ofsted). The Commissioner will have more independence from ministers and the power to carry out assessments of the impact of policies and legislation on children;
  • SEN statements and Learning Difficulty Assessments (for 16-25 year olds) would be replaced with a single, simpler 0-25 assessment process and Education, Health and Care Plan from 2014;
  • Statutory protections comparable to those currently associated with a statement of SEN will be provided up to 25 in further education, instead of being ended at 16;
  • There would be a requirement for local authorities and health services to jointly plan and commission the services that children, young people and families need in relation to SEN. Parents or young people would also be given the right to a personal budget for their support;
  • Local authorities would be stopped from delaying an adoption to find the perfect match if there are suitable adopters available. “The ethnicity of a child and prospective adopters will come second, in most cases, to the speed of placing a child in a permanent home”.

The Draft Care and Support Bill will meanwhile cover the modernisation of the legal framework for adult care and support, “to support the vision of the forthcoming Government White Paper on care and support”.

This modernisation is intended to ensure “local authorities fit their services around the needs, outcomes and experience of people, rather than expecting them to adapt to what is available locally”. People would also be put in control of their care and given greater choice, building on the progress made with personal budgets.

The Government will respond through the draft legislation to the recommendations of the Law Commission, made after the advisory body’s three-year review of social care law. In addition, the Government has promised to carry out engagement and pre-legislative scrutiny on the draft Bill, which will consolidate at least a dozen Acts into a single statute.

Other legislation of particular relevance to local government includes:

  • Public Service Pensions Bill: this will begin implementation of the Final Proposed Agreements reached with trade unions for the three largest schemes, based on the recommendations of the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission. The Bill includes the introduction of “a fairer basis for calculating public service pensions, based on the average earnings of a member over their career rather than their salary at, or near to, retirement”. People will also be asked to retire later – “nobody will be made to work longer, but a fair adjustment will be made to their pension if they chose to retire earlier or later”;
  • Draft Local Audit Bill: this will set out measures to close the Audit Commission and establish new arrangements for the audit of local public bodies. Local bodies would be required to appoint their own auditors on the advice of an independent auditor panel. A new regulatory regime for local public audit, more closely aligned with the regulatory framework for audit in the private sector, will be set up with the Financial Reporting Council as the overall regulator. The power will be continued for the Secretary of State to commission an inspection of a ‘best value’ local authority where there are significant concerns about its performance;
  • Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill: this will reduce burdens on business “by repealing unnecessary legislation”. It will also reduce inspection burdens on business by extending the Primary Authority Scheme, and strengthen the legal framework for sunset clauses on regulation. The employment tribunal system will be overhauled and the dispute resolution landscape “transformed”. The Bill also covers the establishment of the Green Investment Bank;
  • Electoral Registration and Administration Bill: this includes the introduction of individual registration of electors and improvements to the administration of elections;
  • Crime and Courts Bill: this will include reforms to the courts and tribunals service “to increase efficiency, transparency and judicial diversity”. A Single County Court system and Single Family Court will be established to allow greater flexibility for the handling of cases. Flexible judicial deployment will be introduced to allow judges to move between courts and tribunals more efficiently;
  • Draft Communications Data Bill: this will include establishing an updated framework for the collection and retention of communications data by communication service providers to ensure communications data remains available to law enforcement and other authorised public authorities;
  • Draft Water Bill: this will allow every business and public sector body to switch its water and sewerage supplier.

Overall, the Queen’s Speech said the government’s programme would focus on “economic growth, justice and constitutional reform”.

Philip Hoult