Ms Carol Baxter:

The extension of this legislation to people who are involuntarily detained is currently being examined with a view to bringing forward Committee Stage amendments in this area. That is under review. That has implications and there would need to be a code in that area.

In terms of the extension to 16- and 17-year-olds, there is nothing stopping informal practices, including by particular hospitals or centres, that would allow for persons in that age group to take decisions on their healthcare, but more broadly in society, parents take decisions until people are over 18. There is a distinctive break in terms of decisions in other areas of life between those who are under 18 and over 18. I refer to financial decisions, buying houses and across a range of areas. The legislation reflects that broader understanding that the person becomes an adult at 18 but it does not rule out informal arrangements or cut across the possibility of individual centres or hospitals providing for somebody of 16 years or 17 years to give consent on particular medical treatments.