§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department who is serving upon the Lord Chancellor's interdepartmental working party which is working on the Government's response to the Law Commission report on mental incapacity; which Departments they represent; and if he will list those court decisions which have found advance directives legally binding and which form the basis of policy in this area. [33976]
Mr. John M. TaylorThe working group is made up of officials from the Lord Chancellor's Department, the Department of Health, the Home Office, the Department of Social Security, the Welsh Office and the Treasury.
Certain forms of advance directive already have full legal effect at common law. The dicta in Re T (Adult Refusal of Treatment) [1993] Fam 95 together with those in Airedale Trust v. Bland [1993] AC 789 in both the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords indicate that an advance refusal which is "clearly established" and "applicable in the circumstances" may be as effective as the decision of a capable adult. The case of Re C (Adult Refusal of Treatment) [1994] 1 WLR 290 clarified the position.