Clause 11 - Lasting powers of attorney: restrictions
Mental Capacity Bill
3:00 pm
Mr Paul Burstow (Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Health; Sutton and Cheam, Liberal Democrat)
The amendments are intended to ensure that proxy decision making in respect of lasting powers of attorney are firmly anchored in the principles of clause 1 and that, in discharging his responsibility, a donee keeps in mind that he is on shifting sands as regards the issue of capacity, as that may change from one decision to another. It must be asked whether a person has capacity. That always has to be at the forefront of a person's considerations when they are acting as a proxy decision maker.
A person with an LPA ought to ask, ''Does the person for whom I am about to act have the capacity to make this decision?'' Amendments Nos. 167 and 168 would put the fact that that obligation exists in clear terms by linking clause 11 back to clause 1, and by clearly stipulating how those principles should work in respect of both clause 11 and the restrictions that
should apply to a lasting power of attorney. Given all that has been said so far about the pre-eminence of presumption of capacity, I hope that he Minister can give us some reassurance on the subject.