Mental Capacity (Deprivation of Liberty: Standard Authorisations, Assessments and Ordinary Residence) Regulations 2008

Thank you, my Lords; it is nice to be back, in a way. I shall try my best to respond to the questions asked by the noble Earl and the noble Baroness. The best interests assessment was included to ensure the independence of the best interests assessor, and the mental health assessment will be included in that care. I assure the noble Earl that medical care includes social care. The noble Earl asked about the requirement of social care information in Part 5 of the regulations. I shall expand on that. Regulation 16(2)(c) states that any relevant care should take it into account, as well as any relevant medical information. Regulation 16(2)(e) refers to communication needs. We would expect that to include, for example, consideration of whether English is the person’s first language. I think these points were included in the questions asked by the National Autistic Society, from which I also received a very helpful briefing. I was asked why the regulations do not explicitly state that assessors must have experience of working with the service user group of the person being assessed. The regulations specify that supervisory bodies must be satisfied that assessors have the skills and experience appropriate to the assessment being carried out. That means that supervisory bodies must consider each case on an individual basis and ensure that every person assessed for a deprivation of liberty authorisation has an assessor who is right for their particular case. The code of practice reinforces that principle and makes clear that the supervisory bodies should consider a number of factors when selecting assessors, including the assessor’s experience of working with the person’s service user group, the person’s cultural background and their communication needs. We have consulted a wide range of stakeholders to develop the code and the regulations, and we are confident that the approach we have taken is widely accepted and will work. When will MCA DOLS be reviewed? Sorry about the initials. The safeguards will be reviewed, but we do not have a definite date for the review, so I can see a Question coming up here. I shall pursue that. Both the noble Earl and the noble Baroness raised the issue of resources to cover the costs of the deprivation of liberty safeguards. We have announced funding for local authorities and PCTs to cover the cost related to our estimated number of assessments arising from the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act deprivation of liberty safeguards, and we have committed to covering the additional costs for the Court of Protection in relation to Mental Capacity Act deprivation cases. In the first year of implementation, 2009-10, costs are estimated to be £13.9 million. The costs are assumed to fall to a steady state of £4.3 million by 2015-16, based on around 7,000 assessments being required each year. The noble Baroness, Lady Barker, is completely correct that this does not necessarily mean a deprivation of liberty. It might be one of a range of circumstances, as she said, which are about safeguarding people’s interests. Best interests assessors can be social workers under Regulation 5(2)(b) as long as they are not already involved in the person’s care, which is to ensure independence and ECHR compliance. The noble Baroness is right that the local authority is Hampshire, and the figures are based on a worst-case scenario from the Hampshire local authority. I will return to the issue of independence. I looked at the code of practice to reassure myself that it was comprehensive. I will not take the House’s time by reading paragraph 4.13, but it has a very comprehensive list that is there to ensure that assessors are indeed independent and will give an independent view. I hope that I have covered most of the points, but if I have not, I promise that I shall write to noble Lords. As I said in my opening speech, these safeguards provide important protection for some of the most vulnerable people in our society. By setting out the requirements relating to the assessment process and assessors, the information required for standard authorisations and arrangements for authorisation where ordinary residence disputes take place, these regulations will help to ensure that supervisory bodies and managing authorities have the information that they need to implement the safeguards in a safe and effective way. On Question, Motion agreed to.