Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill – second and final day of Report stage

With thanks, again, to Tim Spencer-Lane for his summary, the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill today (27 November) completed report stage in the House of Lords. Key developments:

• The Bill was amended to place rights to information for the person & others on the face of the Bill (this was not a Government amendment, passed by 277 – 192 votes)

• The following Government amendments were passed 

o pre-authorisation reviews must be arranged by the responsible body

o regulation-making powers to prevent pre-authorisation reviews being carried out by someone connected to the care home

o care home manager’s statement must be in writing, and accompanied by the necessary & proportionate assessment

o the person is expressly included in the list of those who must be consulted, and the necessary & proportionate assessment must consider the person’s wishes & feelings

o care home managers prevented from being “gatekeepers” for IMCA appointments

o an IMCA must be appointed unless this would not be in the person’s best interests

• The Government agreed to consider if in addition to independent hospitals, the Bill should be amended to require AMCPs to consider other cases 

• It was confirmed by the Government that conditions can be included in authorised arrangements

• The Government agreed to consider before 3rd reading an amendment on whistle-blowers raising concerns with AMCPs

The Hansard transcript can be found here

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