Justice 2 Committee, 14 Dec 2004

Meeting date: Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Official Report 149KB pdf

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Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000

We move on to agenda item 3, which concerns the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000. Members have a paper that has been prepared by the clerks. It is for the committee to consider what it would like to do. I am still trying to find my copy of the paper, which I certainly had at one point.

I thank the clerks for preparing the paper, which is a helpful résumé of what has been happening. Some of the responses are interesting and it is clear that the Executive has taken an interest as well. Paragraph 16 of the paper outlines the options that are available to the committee and I am happy to open up the meeting to a discussion of the proposals.

My limited understanding is that people are still feeling their way and that things are very much at the early stages. I am fairly open-minded and I can see an argument for simply waiting. I do not know whether people have been in contact with the committee and are anxious to provide information but I would prefer to see how things work out rather than to carry out an investigation when people at all levels are still trying to feel their way. The position might be clearer six months down the line.

I support what Kenny MacAskill says for slightly different reasons. The two issues that have been consistently raised with me have been addressed by the Executive in response to the research findings, and the immediate pressures relating to access to legal aid and the number of people who are authorised to countersign applications have been taken away. Those issues were raised with us previously and they have been addressed. We should therefore wait and see what happens. Six months is a reasonable period to wait.

There is also the health service (miscellaneous provisions) bill, which will propose amendments to the act.

When will that bill come forward?

This month.

It is fairly imminent.

So we will have to deal with the matter again when the bill is introduced.

The Justice 2 Committee will not have to deal with the bill, as the bill is a health bill and will not come before us. However, at least we will see how it deals with aspects of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 that cover medical treatment and research.

What Kenny MacAskill and Jackie Baillie said was helpful. Do members think that we should allow a period of six months to elapse and then consider the matter further?

Members indicated agreement.

That is a sensible and practical approach for another reason. I am well aware that the committee's workload will be fairly acute in the new year as a result of the legislative scrutiny that is coming our way and our on-going youth justice inquiry. We will leave the matter in limbo for six months and make a note to revive it on an agenda around the end of May or in June.