Edinburgh Napier University

  It has been argued that a fusion of mental health and capacity law creates parity and respects nondiscrimination. This approach has been adopted in the Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, although this legislation is not yet fully in force. Separately the WHO and CRPD committee have advocated ending the separate status of mental health law. Across the rest of the UK, the possibility of fusion legislation has recently been considered, although not ultimately recommended by the Wessely Review 2019 (England and Wales) and the Scott Review 2022 (Scotland). Challenges include potential conflicts with ECHR Article 5, the CRPD critique of ‘mental capacity’ and whether a capacity threshold is required for unified mental health and capacity law, a fear of net-widening of coercion, and the interface with the criminal law. This presentation will consider the approach of the Scott Review, why it did not recommend immediate fusion and its proposals for greater alignment of mental health and capacity regimes.