Commentary on Sections Part 1 – Regulation of Social Care Services Chapter 2 – Registration etc. of service providers Section 7 - Grant or refusal of registration as a service provider
28.Section 7 sets out the actions that the Welsh Ministers must take in respect of an application received in accordance with section 6. The application must be granted if the applicant fulfils the criteria in subsection (1). Subsection (1)(a)(ii) requires that an application relating to a domiciliary support service must contain the undertaking set out in section 8 (see the explanatory note to section 8 for detail in relation to this undertaking). Subsection (1)(b) requires the applicant to be a fit and proper person and subsection (1)(c)(ii) requires each individual designated as a responsible individual to be a fit and proper person. The matters that the Welsh Ministers must have regard to when determining whether a person is fit and proper are set out in section 9.
29.In granting the application, subsection (3)(a)(i) specifies that the granting of the application must be subject to a condition specifying the places “at, from or in relation to which” the service is to be provided. This covers cases where a service provider may specify an intention to provide more than one service at, from or in relation to more than one place. The imposition of this condition makes it clear that a service can only be provided at, from or in relation to the places specified by the Welsh Ministers in this condition.
30.In other words, in determining that application, the Welsh Ministers may grant a certain aspect of the application while refusing others. For example, a provider may make an application to provide both a care home service and a domiciliary support service. In determining the application the Welsh Ministers may be of the view that the provider is not able to meet the regulatory requirements in accordance with section 27 in respect of the domiciliary support service so will only grant the application to provide a care home service and refuse the application in respect of the provision of a domiciliary care service.
31.If a provider does satisfy the requirements in respect of both types of services the Welsh Ministers must set those out as a condition of registration. Providers cannot be registered to provide any regulated service at, from or in relation to any place, the services and places must be specified as a condition of registration. Any additional service or place that the provider may seek to add in the future has to be added to that person’s registration. The mechanism by which a provider does this is by making an application to vary their registration (see section 11).
32.As with the condition about places, the Welsh Ministers might be satisfied about the individual designated as the responsible individual in relation to some of the places but not others. The registration of the service provider is intended to permit an individual to be the responsible individual only in relation to places specified on that provider’s registration certificate. Subsection 3(a)(ii) specifies that the granting of an application by the Welsh Ministers must be subject to a condition that specifies the responsible individual for each place at, from or in relation to which a service is provided. Adding a new responsible individual or making an existing responsible individual responsible for an additional location must be done by applying for the registration to be varied under section 11.
33.In addition to the mandatory conditions about places and responsible individuals, the Welsh Ministers can impose other conditions on a registration The types of conditions that might be imposed under subsection (3)(b) include placing a restriction on the number or the age of residents at a care home service, a requirement for appropriate restrictions on staffing such as a requirement for a certain number of nursing staff, or in the case of a domiciliary support service, a restriction on accepting any new packages of care.