Member

In all the discussions I have been listening to carefully today, very few Peers have attempted to make a distinction between capacity and ability—I think the noble Baroness, Lady Cass, touched on it. Could I try—not try the patience of the Committee—my lay man’s definition? Capacity refers to a person’s legal and clinical status to make a specific decision at a specific time. It is assessed according to the established criteria of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. To have capacity, a person must be able to understand, retain, use or weigh relevant information and communicate their decision. Capacity is decision specific and can fluctuate over time. A person may have capacity in some decisions but not others, as the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, pointed out.