Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an estimate of the costs of psychiatric assessments in relation to cases where victims of domestic violence are required to prove capacity to make their own choices, having previously surrendered power of attorney, under duress, to their abusers.

We do not collect this data.

Any instance of abuse involving Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) would be concerning, and the Mental Capacity Act presumes that everyone has capacity unless it is proven otherwise. The Office of the Public Guardian can investigate any reports made to it regarding an LPA being made under duress. We recently consulted on modernising LPAs to improve safeguards during the registration process and intend to publish the response this spring.