Will the Minister publish the minutes of the meeting held between her and representatives of professional healthcare regulators to discuss Welsh language standards on 29 April?
The minutes for the meeting on 29 April 2019 can be seen below. Representatives from the following Healthcare regulators were in attendance, as well as officials from the Welsh Government’s Welsh Language Division: General Medical Council, General Pharmaceutical Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council, General Dental Council and the General Optical Council
Personal data has been withheld in order not to breach the Data Protection Act or GDPR Regulations.
1. The Minister thanked the officials present for travelling to Cardiff and for their engagement so far with the process. The Minister noted that the meeting had been arranged at the request of the General Medical Council and the General Pharmaceutical Council and that once she received the request she was eager to open the invite to all the other regulators.
2. The Minister noted that the Regulators, as bodies, had been engaged in the standards process since they were subject to the Commissioner’s second standards investigation. The Minister recapped what had happened to date, and reminded the Regulators that the decision had been taken following their responses to the consultation on draft health sector regulations to develop specific Regulations for them as opposed to adding them to the No.4 Regulations which had already been made. The Minister also outlined that the work on Welsh language standards had been delayed whilst the Government decided whether to go ahead with a new Welsh language Bill. The Minister proceeded to explain that Ministers had decided not to go ahead with the Bill and outlined the reasons for doing so which had been published in a statement.
3. The Minister went on to explain that her priorities as a Minister was to see an increase in the use of Welsh, and in recommencing the work on Welsh language standards she will be mindful to try to ensure that standards contribute to the aims of Cymraeg 2050 and contribute to an increase in the use of Welsh. She noted that she wished to avoid imposing any unnecessary standards that would not contribute the public being able to use more Welsh when engaging with them as bodies.
4. The General Pharmaceutical Council representative noted that the Regulators were grateful to the Welsh Ministers for taking the decision to develop specific regulations for them and also noted that as a group they were grateful to Welsh Government officials for communicating with them effectively throughout the process. Although there had been a delay, he thanked WG officials for keeping them informed.
5. The General Pharmaceutical Council representative proceeded to remind the Minister that their main concern was that, as bodies funded by registrants, if they were forced to increase their Welsh language provision due to standards it would result in them having to increase registrant fees. Increases in registrant fees must be approved by the UK Government – and the UK Government has made it known to the Regulators that they do not wish to see an increase in fees and previous attempts to increase fees have been subject to Westminster debates.
6. It was noted that the Regulators have been complying with Welsh Language Schemes for a number of years and although they have historically had a low demand for Welsh language services they were committed to providing Welsh language services.
7. The Minister noted that policy officials and lawyers have been working on a draft set of Regulations which are currently in a draft and partly completed form. The Minister asked officials to update the attendees on the development of the Regulations.
8. Welsh Language Division officials noted some main policy points from the draft Regulations, which include:
o Standards would not relate to the verbal use of Welsh in fitness to practice hearings as this was covered by the right to use Welsh in legal proceedings in the 1993 Welsh Language Act. Regulators agreed that they regarded fitness to practice hearings as legal proceedings and therefore within the scope of the Welsh Language Act.
o Standards would relate to the bodies interactions with the public – with a limited number of standards relating to certain services provided to registrants.
o A limited number of operational standards would be made applicable to the bodies – namely to assess the Welsh language skills requirements of new and vacant posts and to provide language awareness courses to all staff. Officials noted that these standards were designed to help the bodies offer better services under their service delivery standards over time.
o It was noted that the number of record keeping and supplementary standards would be reduced from previous regulations made – this followed principles outlined in the White Paper which were to reduce bureaucracy associated with the standards and to streamline the process so that efforts could be channelled towards improving services and increasing the use made of Welsh language services.
o It was confirmed that all bodies would be treated the same in the Regulations and that they did not propose to make the GMC subject to more standards because they had a small administrative office in Cardiff. The GMC noted that they were grateful for this approach as their office was not generally open to the public and did not directly deliver services to the public. A representative also noted that this was the correct approach as it could dis-encourage other bodies from opening an office in Wales if they would be subject to more standards after doing so.
o Officials confirmed that Welsh Government regarded the bodies’ Welsh language schemes as a baseline and would build on these, and noted that they believed standards would offer better clarity to the bodies and the public on what services would be available in Welsh. The bodies noted an agreement and agreed that some elements of current schemes were vague.
9. The General Pharmaceutical Council representative noted that as Regulators themselves, they were experienced in dealing with statutory requirements therefore could see the benefits of the standards system. However, he noted that the Regulators were puzzled by some elements of the system, such as the Regulator being able to choose which standards to impose on bodies and regulate them. This was different from the professional healthcare regulations they worked within where the Government would set the standards and they would regulate compliance. The Minister noted their comments.
10. The Minister noted that, as discussed, the work of preparing standards for the bodies was progressing well. However, she noted that the current legislative uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the policy and legal resources that were being committed to Brexit related matters made it difficult to offer a definite timeframe for introducing Regulations. The Minister confirmed that Welsh language division officials would continue to engage with the bodies ensuring that they were regularly updated.
The General Pharmaceutical Council thanked the Minister again for meeting with them and confirmed that he would be happy to discuss any policy questions that arose as standards were developed.