Mr. James Kelly:

I understand that the rest of the and the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 is due to be fully commenced next year, I think in June. Had the 2015 Act been fully commenced any time before now it would not have a direct impact on the Mental Health Act prior to 2018 because many of the provisions of the 2015 Act do not apply to people receiving treatment under the Mental Health Act. I believe that was written into that Act at the time because the review of the Mental Health Act had already begun and they wanted the process to continue, so that down the line the two Acts would dovetail and align when the updated Mental Health Act came in.

We have aligned a lot of our understanding with what the capacity and the decision-making supports are - all of the things contained in the 2015 Act. We have aligned those in the updated Mental Health Act or that is what we hope to do. Fully commencing the Act will rely on a fully commenced capacity Act but I expect this to happen next year and I hope that depending on how the legislative process goes, sections of our Act would begin to be commenced in 2023. Hopefully, the timelines should add up. That is certainly what we are working towards.