Colin McKay
colin mckay

Professor Colin McKay

Professor

 0131 455 5211

  C.McKay@napier.ac.uk

   

Biography

I joined the Centre for Mental Health and Capacity Law as a Professor in 2020. From 2014 to 2020 I was the Chief Executive of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland. From 1999-2014 I was a civil servant (from 2004 senior civil servant) with the Scottish Government. Areas I worked on included justice policy, public service reform, strategy, and mental health. I was secretary to the Millan committee on mental health law and the MacLean committee on serious violent and sexual offenders. I trained as a solicitor and from 1989-1998 was a legal and policy adviser with ENABLE Scotland.
I am a member of the Executive of the review of mental health law led by John Scott QC, and previously chaired a working group of the Wessely review of the English Mental Health Act.

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Detention of children and adolescents under mental health legislation: a scoping review of prevalence, risk factors, and legal frameworks

Journal Article
Schölin, L., Tucker, Z., Chopra, A., Borschmann, R., & McKay, C. (2024)
Detention of children and adolescents under mental health legislation: a scoping review of prevalence, risk factors, and legal frameworks. BMC Pediatrics, 24(1), Article 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-023-04464-6
Background: For individuals with severe mental illness, involuntary assessment and/or treatment (hereafter detention) can be a necessary intervention to support recovery and m...

Scottish Mental Health Law Review: Final Report

Report
McKay, C., Stavert, J., Scott, J., Martin, K., Rankin, A., & Morgan, G. (2022)
Scottish Mental Health Law Review: Final Report. Scottish Government
Report commissioned by Scottish Ministers to review Scottish mental health, capacity and adult protection law, to improve the rights and protections of persons with a mental d...

COVID-19 Vaccination in those with mental health difficulties: A guide to assist decision-making in England, Scotland, and Wales

Journal Article
Ross, C., Brown, P., Brown, C., Chopra, A., Adshead, G., Tracy, D., …Forsberg, L. (2022)
COVID-19 Vaccination in those with mental health difficulties: A guide to assist decision-making in England, Scotland, and Wales. Medicine, Science and the Law, 62(4), 275-282. https://doi.org/10.1177/00258024221086054
There is currently no specific guidance addressing vaccine hesitancy in those with mental health difficulties in the United Kingdom. This is particularly problematic when one ...

Learning disability, autism and the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act

Journal Article
McKay, C., Connolly, M., Williams, F., Warwick, M., & Macleod, C. (2020)
Learning disability, autism and the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act. Advances in mental health and intellectual disabilities, 14(5), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-09-2019-0028
This paper aims to investigate the use of Part VI of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (CPSA) for people with Learning Disability (LD) and/or Autism. This is in the c...

Scottish mental health and capacity law: The normal, pandemic and ‘new normal’

Journal Article
Stavert, J., & McKay, C. (2020)
Scottish mental health and capacity law: The normal, pandemic and ‘new normal’. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 71, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2020.101593
A state’s real commitment to its international human rights obligations is never more challenged than when it faces emergency situations. Addressing actual and potential resou...