Schedule 1: The Commissioner for Older People in Wales
12.Paragraph 1 makes provision about the status of the Commissioner. Paragraph 2 confers a regulation making power on the Assembly to make provision about the appointment and term of office of the Commissioner. Paragraph 3 makes provision about remuneration and similar matters.
13.Paragraph 4 makes provision for the appointment of a deputy Commissioner and other staff and paragraph 5 allows for the delegation of the Commissioner’s functions to any person including a member of his staff.
14.Paragraph 6 amends the Superannuation Act 1972 to add the Commissioner and the Commissioner’s staff to the persons covered by that Act. This will enable the Commissioner and the Commissioner's staff to be included in any pension scheme for civil servants established under the 1972 Act.
15.Paragraphs 7 and 9 to 14 provide for the financing of the Commissioner’s office, the preparation of estimates and accounts and the auditing of accounts and the examination of resources.
16.Paragraph 8 gives a regulation making power to the Assembly to make provision about the making by the Commissioner of reports to the Assembly.
17.Paragraph 15 deals with the execution of documents by the Commissioner and use in evidence.
18.Paragraphs 16 and 17 add the Commissioner and members of his staff to the lists of office holders who are disqualified from being members of the House of Commons and the Northern Ireland Assembly. Disqualification from being a member of the National Assembly will be dealt with by way of a disqualification order under section 12(1)(b) of the Government of Wales Act 1998.
19.Paragraph 18 amends the Welsh Language Act 1993 so as to include the Commissioner in the list of public bodies required to prepare a scheme specifying the measures they propose to take in relation to the use of the Welsh language in the provision of their services.
20.Paragraph 19 gives the Commissioner wide supplementary powers (the exercise of which is subject to directions from the Assembly). Such powers could be used by the Commissioner to ensure, for example, that older people are aware of his functions, the location of his office, and the ways in which they may communicate with him.
21.Paragraph 20 amends the Government of Wales Act 1998 so as to exempt the Commissioner from being added to the list of public bodies whose audit and account functions the Secretary of State may by order make provision about.
22.Paragraph 21 amends the Freedom of Information Act 2000 so as to bring the Commissioner within the remit of that Act and to allow the Information Commissioner to disclose information to the Commissioner which may be relevant to a matter that may be the subject of an examination by him.
