Clause 2 - People who lack capacity
Mental Capacity Bill
3:45 pm
Mr David Lammy (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Tottenham, Labour)
The hon. Member for Daventry has tabled two amendments to clause 2. Their effect would be to imply that any temporary impairment or disturbance in the functioning of the mind or brain would not mean that a person lacked capacity. By removing the references to ''an'' and ''a'', the amendments imply that impairment or disturbance of the mind is absolute and fixed, whereas the current references to ''an impairment'' or ''a disturbance'' allow better for temporary lack of and fluctuating capacity; we had a lengthy discussion about fluctuating capacity and specific decision making this morning. For those reasons, these amendments are undesirable.
Over the past four or five years that I have been an MP—is it that long?—I have been engaged with a young autistic boy in my constituency. I first met him when he was about 12 or 13 and he is now in his late teens. I know from my engagement with him that he has been on a learning curve. There are decisions that he would have struggled with at the beginning that he can now make. The wording seeks to capture both that context and the fluctuating decision making I spoke about earlier. For those reasons, I hope the hon. Gentleman feels able to withdraw his amendment.