Clause 4 - Best interests
Mental Capacity Bill
10:00 am
Ann Winterton (Congleton, Conservative)
I welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Cran. I have never served under your chairmanship before, and I hope you will be gentle with us all, although you have been a bit of a Rottweiler to date.
I do not intend to hold up the Committee for more than a few brief minutes; we have had a full debate on these issues, some of which are very contentious. I am sure that the Minister is trying to act in the best interests of the legislation, and I do not doubt his commitment and sincerity, but there are real problems in the Bill and in these amendments to clause 4, which we have not overcome.
The Minister began his winding-up speech by saying that the Bill has a protective and supportive ethos. If that is the case, it should address the issue that is central to the best interests of the patient, which is their life and health. That problem cannot be overcome even by accepting the amendment tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry, which refers to all the circumstances. That would be a step forward, although only a tiny one.
The Minister said that reasonable belief is the highest and most objective test according to the advice that he has been given. That may well be so, but when I read the subsection of clause 4 that refers to that, I thought it was rather woolly. Not being a lawyer, I am, perhaps, not the best judge of that; I am just an ordinary member of the public who happens to represent other members of the public in Parliament. However, my experience of life has led me to believe that there are great gaps between the theory of what MPs talk about in Parliament and the reality of what happens in our local communities and hospitals.