Clause 4 - Best interests
Mental Capacity Bill
9:30 am
Mr David Lammy (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Tottenham, Labour)
I welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Cran. We had an interesting debate on this important Bill on Tuesday. That debate will continue today and, under your chairmanship, so too, I hope, will the constructive manner in which we have all engaged to make the Bill better.
We are considering clause 4. On Tuesday, hon. Members raised concerns that I listened to with great interest, and I hope that my job this morning is to reassure them that the Bill will not expose people to dangers that hon. Members fear. ''Best interests'' is the Bill's fundamental principle, and it governs everything that is done for a person who lacks capacity. I am grateful my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) for reminding us that we need to consider the clause against the spirit of the Bill's supportive and protective ethos.
The best interests clause is based on the common law position. I want to reassure my hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Mrs. Curtis-Thomas) and others that best interests is an objective test, although we had much debate about whether it is. It is not a test of substitutive judgment or in any way a subjective test. Losing objectivity could not be in a person's best interests, and my hon. Friend was right to say that. The person's best interests have to be at the heart of the Bill.