Clause 34 - Appointment of independent consultees
Mental Capacity Bill
2:54 pm
Mrs Angela Browning (Tiverton and Honiton, Conservative)
As I was saying, it is important to bear in mind political will and whether independent advocacy would enable the Bill's good intentions to be realised, or whether its omission will hamper that endeavour.
I drew the Committee's attention to the report of the Joint Committee, of which I was a member. When the Minister gave evidence to the Committee, she said that the Department had not calculated the costs of independent advocacy because if it was added to the Bill,
''given the range that would be taken under the Bill and the numbers of people involved, she thought that it was unlikely that the necessary resources would be available.''
The political will must be there to make the resources available. There will always be articulate people who know their way around the system and can access independent advocacy on behalf of P or vulnerable people who come within the scope of the Bill. However, the rest will not have that opportunity.
The Minister should consider carefully the Government response to the Joint Committee on advocacy, in which they say:
''The Committee recommended that the Bill should acknowledge the valuable role''
''independent advocacy services''.
Then they say that those who lack capacity and want to assert their rights will be able to do so through a range of services. However, that is not the same as independent advocacy, as colleagues from all parties have so articulately argued today.
I ask the Minister to reconsider. The alternative to independent advocacy is that people will end up going to court and there will be more litigation and tribunals. There will also be a much more lengthy and expensive procedure—with costs attached for the public sector—that will prevent P and vulnerable people who lack capacity fully enjoying the benefit of the principles stated right at the beginning in clause 1. That is at the heart of what we are trying to do to improve life for people who lose capacity.