Clause 34 - Appointment of independent consultees
Mental Capacity Bill
3:45 pm
Ms Rosie Winterton (Minister of State, Department of Health; Doncaster Central, Labour)
In the strict sense of the term at the moment, the hon. Lady is right. It would be expected that that person's relative would be consulted. At the same time, advocacy services may be available that do not necessarily involve an independent consultee. That comes into a wider discussion about advocacy. Clause 39 considers other groups and whether there are
circumstances in which we ought to extend the role of the independent consultee. I shall come back to that point.