Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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203. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the implementation of the Youth Mental Health Pathfinder initiative; and the roadmap and timeline to full implementation. [20598/18]

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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The development and implementation of a cross-departmental Pathfinder team on youth mental health was prioritised as an action under the Civil Service Renewal plan.  Under the sponsorship of the Civil Service Management Board an inter-departmental team was established with representatives drawn from the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Skills (DES), the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA), the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER). The proposal is to utilise Section 12 of the Public Service Management Act 1997 to formalise a new model for collaborative working between Government departments and to place it on a statutory footing. The proposed model of implementation will require the following three key elements:

- A cross-government unit staffed through secondments from participating offices/agencies to operate for a 3 year period. There is agreement that participating Departments will cover the costs of their own seconded staff and that Departments will be allowed to backfill seconded posts, subject to DPER approval. The Director for the unit would be recruited separately. A draft job description for the Director post has already been prepared and the Department of Health has agreed to fund this post subject to agreement with DPER.

- Accountability is being addressed in a Draft order entitled Public Service Management Act 1997 (Section 12) (Youth Mental Health) Order 2018. This will allow for shared accountability at Secretary General Level across the sponsoring Departments. Drafting is well advanced, and currently the draft text is with participating departments for review.

- It is proposed to utilise Section 12 of the Public Service Management Act 1997 to create a pooled budget between participating departments. This budget would be available to the Pathfinder Unit to drive change across agencies and to seed fund vital infrastructure.

Departments are working with DPER to resolve some technical issues with the above proposals. A timeline to full implementation can not yet be agreed as the participating departments have not received final approval from DPER.

Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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204. To ask the Minister for Health the age of consent in which a young person can interact with the mental health services. [20600/18]

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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The Expert Group Review of the Mental Health Act 2001, which was published in 2015, referred to Section 23 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 which states that "The consent of a minor who has attained the age of 16 years to any surgical, medical or dental treatment which, in the absence of consent, would constitute a trespass to his or her person, shall be as effective as it would if he or she were of full age; and where a minor by virtue of this section given an effective consent to any treatment it shall not be necessary to obtain any consent for it from his or her parent or guardian".

The Expert Group also acknowledged, however, that it has long been unclear how that Act interacts with the provisions of the Mental Health Act 2001.  Specifically in relation to children and consent, in proposing how our mental health legislation could be improved, the Expert Group has recommended that children aged 16/17 should be presumed to have capacity to consent/refuse admission and treatment; that a 16/17 year old must also consent or at least must not object to his/her voluntary admission; where the 16/17 year old objects, the case should then be referred to a child friendly District Family Law Court to assess the maturity and capacity of the child to make an informed decision (where the Court determines the child has the necessary maturity and capacity, admission may only proceed on an involuntary basis by order of the Court, where the child does not have the necessary maturity and capacity, then voluntary admission may proceed with the consent of the parents/guardian); and that there should be no automatic presumption of capacity for children under the age of 16.

Amendments to the Mental Health Act 2001 based on the recommendations of the Expert Group Review of the Act are currently being progressed.  Government approved plans to proceed with the general scheme of a bill and officials are working on the heads of the amending bill which will legislate for the recommendations of the Review, including those relating to children. 

The National Youth Mental Health Task Force has also recommended that priority is focused on the need to ensure that the voice of all children and young people is heard. In addition, I should also mention that it is intended that a new inter-departmental Pathfinder Team will take a lead in formalising mechanisms to ensure that the voices of young people are fully considered in the development and implementation of legislation, policy and services for youth.