Senedd Cymru | Welsh Parliament
Y Pwyllgor Iechyd a Gofal Cymdeithasol | Health and Social Care Committee
Bil Iechyd a Gofal Cymdeithasol (Cymru) | Health and Social Care (Wales) Bill
Ymateb gan Revolution Consulting Limited, | Evidence from Revolution Consulting Limited,
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The general principle is over 30 years too late. The question as to which sectors should be permitted to provide services to children in Wales should have been addressed before the local authority and voluntary sector vacated provision and left a void for private sector bodies to then populate. Any shifting back towards a provider sector with majority state or charity providers should be delivered through a decade long strategic recommissioning. The CMA did not advocate for more interventionist approaches; they are the professionals in managing markets. They recommended commissioning approaches as the solution. Existing local authority and 4Cs efforts have resulted in the current market imbalances. It is those structures that should be radically reformed. In England there is emerging learning from combined authority commissioning and from new forms of commercial and relationship-based engagement with providers, often with many of the same providers that operate in Wales, all without the disruption and risk that this policy brings in Wales.
Yes
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Only in relation to a redesign of commissioning and purchasing responbilities in Wales.
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I am the author of work for the Local Government Association in England that first identified the profit levels of large providers. Note that smaller provider profitability has not been studied in the same way. It is worming to apply the findings for one specific set of providers to the whole sector. The profit levels discussed in my work and the CMA's similar work indicates a market imbalance. The measures of profit used are NOT the same as amounts "extracted" from the care of children. Everyone involved in the debates around this issue needs to take on a better level of understanding of the terms used and how they then apply them. Alternatively, reliance could be put on the CMA conclusions, they are the professionals who do understand the terms used. They recommended no intervention on prices or profits, but instead go to recommendations re commissioning solutions. As an experienced Chartered Accountant I also believe it is not possible for the state to regulate and have a view about every transaction that a provider enters into. It would take the largest army of grey suits ever gathered to assess if a not-for-profit entity was transacting business at fair/arms-length prices for services from a sister, for-profit entity. The policy is therefore unenforceable. I was not invited back to the programme work stream where I first pointed this out over 2 years ago. All energy and cost incurred sin the intervening period has been a waste, and two years of valuable time to start shaping the markets differently through investment and commissioning has been lost.
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See earlier
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See earlier
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Wholly inadequate.
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Engagement with the provider sector has been dismissive and chaotic
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