National Preventive Mechanism Eighth Annual Report 2016–17 Strengthened policy for the care and management of transgender prisoners in England and Wales In November 2016, after the completion of a review into the care and management of transgender offenders, NOMS published a new prison service instruction (PSI), The Care and Management of Transgender Offenders. It recognised a more flexible approach to locating transgender prisoners within the prison estate to reflect the fact that not all transgender people in prisons have legal recognition of their acquired gender. The PSI emphasised the need for early decision-making around the location of transgender prisoners, and introduced case and review boards to inform decision-making. Finally, the PSI introduced a commitment to publish official statistics on transgender offenders for the first time, and announced the establishment of a Transgender Advisory Board to develop guidance and policy further in the future. Mental health law The Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 received Royal Assent in May 2016. This pioneering law introduced to Northern Ireland for the first time a legal framework governing capacity and incapacity and requires decisions to be made based on a person’s best interests. The new Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice for Wales came into force on 3 October 2016.60 In Scotland, the government consulted on the implementation of provisions in the new mental health legislation and on proposals about secondary legislation relating to the new act. This included new arrangements for cross-border transfers and to deal with patients who had absconded from other jurisdictions. Consultations on the need to reform incapacity legislation in Scotland to ensure compliance with international human rights standards were led by the Mental Welfare Commission and the Centre for Mental Health and Capacity Law at Edinburgh Napier University. In March 2017, the Law Commission published the final report from its review of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). The review concluded that there was a ‘compelling case for replacing the DoLS’ and that there was ‘widespread agreement that the DoLS are overly technical and legalistic, and too often fail to achieve any positive outcomes for the person concerned or their family’. The current system was unable to deal with the increased numbers of people considered to be deprived of their liberty following the Supreme Court’s decision in Cheshire West and the current system renders many people’s rights ‘theoretical and illusory’. The Law Commission proposed a new system of ‘Liberty Protection Safeguards’.61 60. Welsh Assembly Government, 2016, Mental Health Act 1983, Code of Practice for Wales, http://www.wales.nhs. uk/sites3/documents/816/Mental%20Health%20Act%201983%20Code%20of%20Practice%20for%20Wales.pdf [accessed 09/11/17]. 61. Law Commission, 2017, Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty Summary, http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/mentalcapacity-and-deprivation-of-liberty/ [accessed 09/11/17]. 24