The Welsh Language Standards (No. 7) Regulations 2018

Made: 27 March 2018

Coming into force: 29 June 2018

The Welsh Ministers, in exercise of the powers conferred upon them by sections 26, 27, 39 and 150(5) of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011[^f00001], having received the approval of the National Assembly for Wales in accordance with section 150(2) of that Measure, make the following Regulations:

Title, commencement, application and interpretation

1

• (1) The title of these Regulations is the Welsh Language Standards (No. 7) Regulations 2018.

• (2) These Regulations come into force on 29 June 2018.

• (3) These Regulations apply in relation to Wales.

• (4) In these Regulations—

• a “body” (“corff”) means a person listed in Schedule 6;

• a “care home service” (“gwasanaeth cartref gofal”) has the same meaning as in section 2(2) of, and paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to, the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016[^f00002];

• a “case conference” (“cynhadledd achos”) means an interaction the main purpose of which is to discuss an individual’s (“A”) health related provision and is between—A,one or more bodies, andone or more persons where at least one of those persons is a county council or a county borough council in Wales;

• a “clinic” (“clinig”) is a surgery or consulting room in which—a clinical consultation; ora private clinical consultation;takes place;a “clinical consultation” (“ymgynghoriad clinigol”) means a health provision interaction between one or more individuals and a body;

• “health provision” (“darpariaeth iechyd”) means the provision of health services as part of the national health service to an individual and includes the assessment, diagnosis or treatment of that individual;

• “health related provision” (“darpariaeth sy’n ymwneud ag iechyd”) means provision of services to an individual which may have an effect on the health of that individual but which are not health provision or private health provision;

• a “hospital” (“ysbyty”) means—any institution for the reception and treatment of persons suffering from illness,any maternity home, andany institution for the reception and treatment of persons during convalescence or persons requiring medical rehabilitation,

• and includes clinics, dispensaries and out-patient departments maintained in connection with any such home or institution;

• an “individual” (“unigolyn”) means a natural person ordinarily resident in Wales acting in their personal capacity; but does not include an individual acting in their capacity as a volunteer;

• an “in-patient” (“claf mewnol”) means an individual who is admitted to hospital for at least one night;

• an “in-patient admission” (“derbyniad fel claf mewnol”) begins on the day the in-patient is admitted to hospital and ends on the day the in-patient ceases to be in hospital;

• a “member of staff” (“aelod o staff”) means an employee of a body or a natural person working for a body but not a person appointed to a body by the Welsh Ministers, a Minister of the Crown, Secretary of State, a county council or county borough council or a voluntary organisation[^f00003] (and “staff” (“staff”) must be construed accordingly);

• “national health service” (“gwasanaeth iechyd gwladol”) means the comprehensive health service in Wales continued under section 1(1) of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006[^f00004];

• a “national health service clinic” (“clinig gwasanaeth iechyd gwladol”) means a clinic vested in the Welsh Ministers, a Local Health Board , a National Health Service Trust or a Special Health Authority;

• a “national health service hospital” (“ysbyty gwasanaeth iechyd gwladol”) means a hospital vested in the Welsh Ministers, a Local Health Board , a National Health Service Trust or a Special Health Authority;

• a “primary care provider” (“darparwr gofal sylfaenol”) means a person who provides a primary care service on behalf of a Local Health Board;

• a “primary care service” (“gwasanaeth gofal sylfaenol”) means a service provided under a contract, arrangement or agreement made under or by virtue of any of the following provisions of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006—section 41(2)(b) (primary medical services);section 42(1) (general medical services contracts);section 50 (arrangements by Local Health Boards for the provision of primary medical services);section 57(1) (general dental services contracts);section 64 (arrangements by Local Health Boards for the provision of primary dental services);(section 71 (arrangements for general ophthalmic services);section 80 (arrangements for pharmaceutical services);section 81 (additional pharmaceutical services);section 92 (pilot schemes);section 102 (local pharmaceutical services schemes);

• a “private clinic” (“clinig preifat”) means a clinic which is not a national health service clinic;

• a “private clinical consultation” (“ymgynghoriad clinigol preifat”) means a private health provision interaction between one or more individuals and a person;

• “private health provision” (“darpariaeth iechyd breifat”) means the provision of health services not as part of the national health service to an individual and includes the assessment, diagnosis or treatment of that individual; and

• a “private hospital” (“ysbyty preifat”) means a hospital which is not a national health service hospital.

• (5) Subject to paragraphs (7), (8), (9) and (10), in these Regulations—

• (a) references to any activity being carried out by a body, or to any service being provided by a body, are to be read as including a reference to that activity being carried out on the body’s behalf or to that service being provided on the body’s behalf by a third party under arrangements made between the third party and the body;

• (b) accordingly, unless a compliance notice provides to the contrary, a body will have failed to comply with a standard in respect of an activity or service it has arranged to be carried out or provided by a third party if that activity or service has not been carried out or provided in accordance with the standard.

• (6) Nothing in these Regulations requires a body to comply with a standard in relation to an activity carried out by it or a service provided by it where it is carrying out that activity or providing that service on behalf of a third party under arrangements made between it and the third party, except in relation to—

• (a) a clinical consultation,

• (b) a case conference, or

• (c) an in-patient (when the in-patient is not attending a clinical consultation).

• (7) Nothing in these Regulations requires a body to comply with a standard in relation to an activity carried out on its behalf or a service provided on its behalf by a third party under arrangements made between it and the third party in relation to—

• (a) a clinical consultation,

• (b) a case conference, or

• (c) an in-patient (when the in-patient is not attending a clinical consultation).

• (8) Nothing in these Regulations requires a body to comply with a standard in relation to an activity carried out by it or a service provided by it where that activity is carried out or that service is provided on its behalf—

• (a) in a private hospital or private clinic in Wales,

• (b) on a private ward in a hospital in Wales, or

• (c) in a hospital or clinic located outside of Wales.

• (9) Nothing in these Regulations requires a body to comply with a standard in relation to an activity carried out by it or a service provided by it where that activity is carried out or that service is provided on its behalf by a primary care provider.

• (10) Nothing in these Regulations requires a body to comply with a standard in relation to an activity carried out by it or a service provided by it where the activity carried out or the service provided on its behalf is a care home service.

Standards specified

2

• (1) In Schedule 1—

• (a) Part 1 specifies service delivery standards;

• (b) Part 2 provides that a compliance notice must require a body to comply with certain standards specified in Part 1 if it has required the body to comply with certain other standards;

• (c) Part 3 defines a number of words and expressions.

• (2) In Schedule 2—

• (a) Part 1 specifies policy making standards;

• (b) Part 2 provides that a compliance notice must require a body to comply with certain standards specified in Part 1 if it has required the body to comply with certain other standards;

• (c) Part 3 defines a number of words and expressions.

• (3) In Schedule 3—

• (a) Part 1 specifies operational standards;

• (b) Part 2 provides that a compliance notice must require a body to comply with certain standards specified in Part 1 if it has required the body to comply with certain other standards;

• (c) Part 3 defines a number of words and expressions.

• (4) In Schedule 4—

• (a) Part 1 specifies record keeping standards;

• (b) Part 2 defines a number of words and expressions.

• (5) In Schedule 5—

• (a) Part 1 specifies standards that deal with matters which are supplementary to the matters dealt with in the standards specified in Schedules 1 to 4;

• (b) Part 2 makes provision about interpreting the supplementary standards.

Standards that are specifically applicable

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• (1) The Welsh Ministers authorise the Welsh Language Commissioner to give a compliance notice to the persons listed in Schedule 6 requiring them to comply with any of the standards specified under regulation 2 and Schedules 1 to 5.

• (2) But the Commissioner is not authorised to give a compliance notice to—

• (a) National Health Service Trusts in Wales requiring them to comply with the following standards—

• (i) 65 to 68,

• (ii) 78 to 78A;

• (b) the Citizen Voice Body requiring it to comply with the following standards—

• (i) 23 to 25,

• (ii) 64 to 68,

• (iii) 78 to 78A,

• (iv) 110 and 110A.

Amendment of Welsh Language Standards (No. 4) Regulations 2016

4

• (1) In regulation 3 of the Welsh Language Standards (No. 4) Regulations 2016 (“the No. 4 Regulations”)[^f00005] for paragraph (2) substitute—

(2) But the Commissioner is not authorised to give a compliance notice to— (a) the Agricultural Land Tribunal (Wales), the Mental Health Review Tribunal for Wales, the Residential Property Tribunal Wales and the Special Educational Needs Tribunal for Wales requiring them to comply with the following standards— (i) 92 to 139, (ii) 144 to 148, (iii) 161 to 166; (b) Social Care Wales[^f00006] requiring it to comply with standard 60.

• (2) In Schedule 6 to the No. 4 Regulations in the appropriate place insert—

• Social Care Wales (“Gofal Cymdeithasol Cymru”)

SCHEDULE 1 — Service Delivery Standards

PART 1 — THE STANDARDS

You must state—

• (a) in correspondence, and

• (b) in publications and notices that invite persons to respond to you or to correspond with you,

any text displayed on the sign or notice must be displayed in Welsh (whether on the same sign or notice as you display corresponding English language text or on a separate sign or notice); and if the same text is displayed in Welsh and in English, you must not treat the Welsh language text less favourably than the English language text.

PART 2 — STANDARDS THAT ARE RELIANT ON OTHER STANDARDS – SPECIAL CONDITIONS

22	When a compliance notice requires a body to comply with one of the standards listed on a specific row in column 1 of Table 1, that compliance notice must also require that body to comply (in whatever way the Welsh Language Commissioner considers appropriate) with the standard or standards listed in column 2 of that row (or with one or more of those standards where that is stated).
	Column 1
---	---
Row	Main standard
(1)	Replying to correspondence
(1)	Standard 1
(2)	Corresponding with members of the same household
(2)	Standard 3
(3)	Corresponding with several persons
(3)	Standard 4
(4)	General standards relating to correspondence
(4)	Standard 5
(5)	Raising awareness about corresponding in Welsh
(5)	Standard 7
(6)	Receiving telephone calls
(6)	Standard 9
(7)	Receiving telephone calls
(7)	Standard 10
(8)	Raising awareness about telephone services in Welsh
(8)	Standard 13
(9)	Meetings with more than one person
(9)	Standard 22
(10)	Meetings with more than one person
(10)	Standard 22A, 22B, 22C or 22CH
(11)	In-patients
(11)	Standard 23
(12)	In-patients
(12)	Standard 23A
(13)	Public meetings
(13)	Standard 26
(14)	Public meetings
(14)	Standard 29
(15)	Documents and forms
(15)	Standard 36 or 37
(16)	Websites
(16)	Standard 39, 40 or 41
(17)	Signs and notices
(17)	Standard 47 or 48
(18)	Reception
(18)	Standard 50
(19)	Reception
(19)	Standard 51
(20)	Raising awareness of Welsh-language services in a reception
(20)	Standard 52
(21)	Grants
(21)	Standard 55
(22)	Contracts
(22)	Standard 58

PART 3 — INTERPRETING THE STANDARDS

a person or body listed in Schedule 1 to the Civil Contingencies Act 2004[^f00009] (“the 2004 Act”) is not required to comply with any of the standards in respect of an activity or a service referred to in paragraph (ii)—

• (i) the first condition is that an emergency has occurred, is occurring or is about to occur;

• (ii) the second condition is that the activity being carried out or the service being provided by the person or body is necessary for the purpose of preventing, controlling or mitigating an aspect or effect of an emergency; and

• (iii) the third condition is that the need for the activity or the service referred to in paragraph (ii) is urgent.

• (2) The condition is that the person or body is undertaking an emergency drill.

• (3) In this paragraph, “emergency” has the same meaning given to it in section 1 of the 2004 Act subject to sub-paragraph (4).

• (4) If the condition in sub-paragraph (2) is met, then the reference to “an emergency” in sub-paragraph (1)(ii) is to be read as “the simulated emergency situation”.

SCHEDULE 2 — Policy making standards

PART 1 — THE STANDARDS