Clause 36 - Duty of NHS body to seek advice before providing accommodation
Mental Capacity Bill
10:00 am
Mr Paul Burstow (Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Health; Sutton and Cheam, Liberal Democrat)
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for asking that question; I will let it bounce off me and look to the Minister for a response.
Let me tease out a little further something else that the Minister said to the Committee: that the Department—it would be useful to know which Department we are talking about for this purpose—would widely consult partners outside Government on the development of the independent consultee service. She went on to say that advocates could train to be independent consultees. It would be useful if she let us know which partners she has in mind. Do they include existing, established advocacy providers? It is crucial that advocacy services sign up, if that is possible, to the proposed developments. It would be helpful if the Minister told us with which established advocacy networks her Department has had discussions on the developments. As I understand it, no established advocacy networks or associations have so far shown a willingness to sign up to the proposals, because they do not believe that they constitute advocacy, so could the Minister say which members of staff would be
likely to take on the role? That goes back to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Chesterfield at the previous sitting.
Those are burning questions for many outside the Committee, as I am sure the Minister understands. That is why I am doing my best to ensure that they are put to her today. I look forward to her response.