Citation, commencement, interpretation and application

1.–(1) The title of these Regulations is the Integrated Family Support Teams (Composition of Teams and Board Functions) (Wales) Regulations 2010 and come into force on 1 September 2010.

(2) These regulations apply in relation to Wales.

(3) In these Regulations–

• "the 2010 Measure" ("Mesur 2010") means the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010;

• "consultant social worker" ("gweithiwr cymdeithasol ymgynghorol") means a social worker with at least three years post-qualifying experience and with such skills, qualifications and competences as may be set out by the Welsh Ministers from time to time in guidance issued under s.65 of the 2010 Measure;

• "health visitor" ("ymwelydd iechyd") means a person who is registered on the specialist community public health nurse part of the register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council and whose entry in that part of the register records competence in health visiting;

• "nurse" ("nyrs") means a person who is registered on the nurses part of the register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council;

• "social worker" ("gweithiwr cymdeithasol") means a person who is registered as a social worker with the Care Council for Wales or the General Social Care Council or a similar register of social workers maintained in Scotland or Northern Ireland;

• "team" ("tîm") means an integrated family support team established under part 3 of the 2010 Measure.

Composition of integrated family support teams

2.–(1) A team must include a minimum of five persons each of whom are from one of the following professional categories–

(a) social worker;

(b) nurse; or

(c) health visitor.

(2) A team must include at least one person from each of the categories in subparagraphs (a) to (c) of paragraph (1).

(3) One member of the team must be a consultant social worker.

3. A team must contain staff with suitable skills and experience having regard to –

(a) the categories of cases which can be referred to it;

(b) the need of professional staff for administrative support; and

(c) any guidance issued by the Welsh Ministers under section 65 of the 2010 Measure.

Integrated Family Support Boards

4. In order to achieve the objectives in section 62(1) of the Measure (Functions of integrated family support boards) an integrated family support board must–

(a) receive and consider regular reports from the person managing the team including information about the levels of service activity and outcomes;

(b) seek to resolve issues in relation to the coordination of services provided by the team and other services provided by the local authority and the local health board;

(c) ensure that the team has procedures in relation to

(i) child protection;

(ii) adult protection;

(d) establish a procedure for resolving disputes between the local authority and the local health board about the arrangements for the team;

(e) ensure that there are adequate arrangements for the supervision and professional development of all professional staff;

(f) receive reports on the team´s income and expenditure and notify the local authority and the local health board of any financial or other resource issues which are likely to affect the teams ability to fulfil its functions.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make requirements about the professional categories from which the workers who are members of an integrated family support ("IFS") team must be drawn. These Regulations also set out what an IFS board must do to meet the objectives conferred on it by section 62 of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010.

Regulation 2 requires that an IFS team must contain a core of five professionals drawn from three professions: social work, nursing and health visiting. Each profession must be represented in the team. In addition the social worker, or, where there is more than one social worker, at least one of them, must be a consultant social worker, as defined in regulation 1. Regulation 3 requires the team to have suitable skills and experience having regard to the types of cases which are to be referred to the team, to guidance which the Welsh Ministers may issue and to the need of the professional members of the team for administrative support.

Regulation 4 spells out the functions an IFS board must perform in meeting its objectives.