164.This section amends sections 95 and 142 of the 2014 Act. Under section 95(2) of the 2014 Act, if a local housing authority requests co-operation from any of the bodies listed in section 95(5) of that Act in the exercise of the authority’s functions under Part 2 of that Act, the body has a duty to comply with the request unless doing so would have an adverse effect on the exercise of its functions or would be incompatible with its duties. Those bodies are also required (by section 95(3) of the 2014 Act) to comply with requests by a local housing authority for information that it requires in the exercise of its functions under Part 2 of the 2014 Act.
165.Section 31(2) of the Act replaces subsections (5) to (8) of section 95 of the 2014 Act to expand the list of bodies that can be required to cooperate with, and provide information to, a local housing authority. The expanded list of bodies is set out in inserted subsection (5). References below to subsections (5), (6), (7) and (8) are references to those inserted subsections.
166.Subsection (6) provides the Welsh Ministers with a regulation-making power to amend that list of bodies by removing, adding or changing a reference to a person, or a description of a person.
167.Subsection (7) enables those regulations to remove a reference to a reserved authority, or a description of a person that includes a reserved authority from the list in subsection (5). It also provides that regulations adding additional reserved authorities to that list may only be made with the consent of the Secretary of State. In addition, subsection (7) provides that regulations that change a reference to a reserved authority, or a description of a person that includes a reserved authority, in that list in a way that modifies its functions, may only be made with the consent of the Secretary of State, or in the case of an authority that is a Minister of the Crown, after consulting with the Secretary of State about the change.
168.Subsection (8) enables regulations made under subsection (6)(b) or (c) to describe a person by reference to the exercise of discretion by another person, and to specify cases or circumstances in which the reference to a person, or description of a person, applies.
169.The amendment made by section 31(3) to section 142(3)(b)(ii) of the 2014 Act provides that the regulations are subject to the Senedd approval procedure.
Commentary on Sections Part 1 - Homelessness Section 31: Co-operation