Government Response: Code of Practice on Quality Assurance and Performance Management, Escalating Concerns, and Closure of Regulated Care and Support Services 2026

The Welsh Government acknowledges and accepts the matters raised. While the points require corrections to be made to the Code, these are minor drafting points that do not affect or alter the operation or legal effect of the Code itself.

In light of this, the Government proposes to the Committee that the corrections detailed below are made in response to the points raised prior to issue of the Code. The Government considers this approach to be pragmatic and proportionate; ensuring that the Code is published accurately without unnecessary delay.

Scrutiny point 1                  The statutory guidance Escalating Concerns with, and Closures of Care Homes Providing Services for Adults will be defined as “the 2009 Guidance” in paragraph 1.1 and reference to the full title in paragraph 1.2 replaced with “the 2009 Guidance”.

Scrutiny point 2                  The reference to “1.2(b)” in paragraph 1.3 will be amended to say, “paragraph 1.2(b)”.

Scrutiny point 3                  Reference in paragraph 1.4 to “the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014” and the reference to “the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006” in paragraph 1.5 will be replaced with “the 2014 Act” and “the 2006 Act” respectively.

Scrutiny point 4                  Reference in paragraph 1.6 to “section 147” will be amended to say, “section 147 of the 2014 Act”.  

Scrutiny point 5                  In the final sentence of paragraph 1.14 in the Welsh text, the words “a gwerthuso” will be deleted.

Scrutiny point 6                  Paragraph 3.1 will be amended to replace the reference to “registered service provider” with “service provider”. Other references in the Code to “registered service provider” will be amended to “service provider”. The words “registered under the 2016 Act” in the third bullet point of paragraph 3.1 will be deleted.

Scrutiny point 7                  In the first sentence of paragraph 3.4 in the Welsh text, the words “ddarparwyr cofrestredig” will be changed to “ddarparwyr gwasanaethau” to reflect the revised English text which will read “Service providers”.

Scrutiny point 8 In the second sentence of paragraph 3.5 in the Welsh text, the words “er lles” will be amended to “er llesiant”.

Scrutiny point 9                  A definition of “registered manager” will be added to the Glossary to clarify the meaning of the term.

Scrutiny point 10                The term “siart lif” (“flowchart”) will be added to paragraphs 4.17 and 5.18 of the Welsh text to convey the same meaning as the English text.

Scrutiny point 11                A definition of “registered social care worker” will be added to the Glossary to clarify the meaning of this term.

Scrutiny point 12                In the first sentence of paragraph 6.3 of the Welsh text, the word “safonau” will be changed to “perfformiad” to correspond to the English text.

Scrutiny point 13                In the second sentence of paragraph 6.7 in the Welsh text, the words “gan gorff comisiynu allanol” will be changed to “gan gyrff comisiynu eraill” to correspond to the English text.

Scrutiny point 14                In the second sentence of paragraph 7.5 of the Welsh text, the words “ar gyfer cau” will be changed to “ar gyfer ymateb i gau” to correspond to the English text.

Scrutiny point 15                In the first sentence of paragraph 7.8 in the Welsh text, the word “canfod” will be replaced by “nodi” for consistency. 

Scrutiny point 16                In the first sentence of paragraph 7.9 of the Welsh text, the word “di-dâl” will be deleted so that the text corresponds to the English text.

Scrutiny point 17 In the Welsh text, in Annex A, on page 25, in the flowchart, in the second box down in the centre which has a beige background, the word “gwasanaeth” will be added after “darparwr” in two places, to correspond to the English term “service provider”.

Scrutiny point 18                In the Welsh text, in Annex A, on page 25, in the flow chart, in the fourth box down in the centre which has a beige background, the text will be amended so that it corresponds to the English text “risks, breaches in required standards and agreed actions”. The formatting of the box will be amended to ensure consistency between the text in both languages.

Scrutiny point 19                In Annex C, on page 27, in the flow chart, in the box at the bottom of the page, the words “a Chymorth” will be added to the Welsh text to correspond to the English text.

Scrutiny point 20                In Annex D, on page 30, in the flow chart, in the box at the bottom of the page which has a light blue background, the word “Cau” will be added after “Tîm” in the Welsh text so that it expresses the same meaning as the English term “Closure Team”.

Minor formatting and editorial issues will also be corrected prior to issuing the Code of Practice.