By Paul Dicken
6 November 2009
MPs in Westminster have backed a backbench AM proposal to give the Welsh Assembly Government legal powers to reform mental health services.
The Legislative Competence Order (Health and Health Services and Social Welfare) has been proposed by Conservative AM Jonathan Morgan, who also chairs the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee. It is the first non-government LCO proposal to get this far.
Morgan told Public Finance that the order would give the WAG powers to improve services for people before they became seriously ill, bringing together health and social services.
‘The earlier you intervene and provide support, the better for individuals. We are talking about a very vulnerable group of people,’ he said.
Current rights for people with mental illnesses and duties on public authorities are designed for people liable for detention. They do not deal in the most part with the provision of assessment, treatment and advocacy services.
The Welsh Affairs Committee in Westminster agreed there was a need for the WAG to be able to legislate in this area. It recommended only drafting changes to the order.
The committee report recognised that any future legislation would place regulatory and financial burdens on the public sector and that there would be initial financial costs in providing quicker access to services.
Committee chair Dr Hywel Francis welcomed the ‘high level of co-operation’ between Jonathan Morgan and the WAG to bring the order this far.
Morgan said the progress was ‘good for devolution, to show people we can work together on an issue that will affect one in three, or one in four, of the population’.
6 November 2009
MPs in Westminster have backed a backbench AM proposal to give the Welsh Assembly Government legal powers to reform mental health services.
The Legislative Competence Order (Health and Health Services and Social Welfare) has been proposed by Conservative AM Jonathan Morgan, who also chairs the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee. It is the first non-government LCO proposal to get this far.
Morgan told Public Finance that the order would give the WAG powers to improve services for people before they became seriously ill, bringing together health and social services.
‘The earlier you intervene and provide support, the better for individuals. We are talking about a very vulnerable group of people,’ he said.
Current rights for people with mental illnesses and duties on public authorities are designed for people liable for detention. They do not deal in the most part with the provision of assessment, treatment and advocacy services.
The Welsh Affairs Committee in Westminster agreed there was a need for the WAG to be able to legislate in this area. It recommended only drafting changes to the order.
The committee report recognised that any future legislation would place regulatory and financial burdens on the public sector and that there would be initial financial costs in providing quicker access to services.
Committee chair Dr Hywel Francis welcomed the ‘high level of co-operation’ between Jonathan Morgan and the WAG to bring the order this far.
Morgan said the progress was ‘good for devolution, to show people we can work together on an issue that will affect one in three, or one in four, of the population’.
