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Commissioner for Older People (Wales) Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 31:"Page 7, line 40, leave out ““, other than a private dwelling,””" The noble Lord said: My Lords, in trying to insert here the right of the commissioner to intervene in the life of a person who is cared for in his or her own home we have a fundamental decision to make. The whole ethos and force of this measure is to ensure that no single elderly person anywhere in Wales suffers any harm at all. So many elderly people suffer in their own homes because of inappropriate care, or even sometimes because of people’s deliberate actions to make their lives a misery. We know from the Health Committee that 500,000 elderly people suffered abuse the year before last. That number is colossal, and many suffer in their own homes. What we are asking here is that no person, wherever he or she is residing, should suffer harm in any way at all. Most families and carers, as we know, are doing a remarkable job, and we often say how much we appreciate the work that is being done by so many of them. But now and again the newspapers report an account of neglect or deliberate harm to an elderly person. How do we prevent that? As we mentioned in Grand Committee, we have adult protection co-ordinators appointed by the various councils. They can get a magistrate’s order and enter a home. The police can also do that. However, surely in cases of domestic violence, it should be possible to enter a home—if a child is going to be hurt it is possible to enter the home. All we ask is that it should be possible for the Commissioner for Older People to enter homes and make sure that, in cases of suspected abuse, he is able to look after and care for the person who is suffering. I beg to move.