3(1)The facilities to be provided by local authorities as part of the service maintained under section 1(1) of the Adoption Act 1976 (c. 36) include such arrangements as the authorities may be required by regulations to make for the provision of adoption support services to prescribed persons.
(2)Regulations under sub-paragraph (1) may require a local authority—
(a)at the request of a prescribed person, to carry out an assessment of his needs for adoption support services,
(b)if, as a result of the assessment, the authority decide that he has such needs, to decide whether to provide any such services to him,
(c)if the authority decide to provide any such services to a person, and the circumstances fall within a description prescribed by the regulations, to prepare a plan in accordance with which the services are to be provided to him and keep the plan under review.
(3)Subsections (6) and (7) (except paragraph (a)) of section 4 of this Act apply to regulations under sub-paragraph (1) as they apply to regulations made by virtue of that section.
(4)Section 57(1) of the Adoption Act 1976 (prohibited payments) does not apply to any payment made in accordance with regulations under sub-paragraph (1).