2.1.State the key points of legislation related to: • mental ill health, mental capacity, age of consent to treatment, parental responsibility, data protection and confidentiality

Qualification: NCFE CACHE Level 2 Certificate in Understanding Children and Young People’s Mental Health
Unit: Unit 01: Understand children and young people’s mental health in context
Learning outcome: 2 Know the legislation and guidance that applies to children and young people’s mental health
Assessment criteria: 2.1. State the key points of legislation related to: • mental ill health, mental capacity, age of consent to treatment, parental responsibility, data protection and confidentiality

• Mental ill health = All professionals must follow the legislation and guidelines under the Mental Health Act (1983) which states that individual’s that have been detained must receive urgent treatment for a mental health disorder if it is believed they are at risk to themselves or others. Any decisions about the individual’s treatment will be decided by the individual’s parents unless there is reason to believe that the parent is not making a decision in the child’s best interest, then professional’s will take over this role.
• Mental capacity = Mental capacity is an individual’s ability to make their own decisions. The mental Capacity Act created in 2005 applies to individual’s over the age of 16 and holds five principles which include: presumption of capacity, support in making a decision, belief in the ability to make wise decisions, decisions are made in the best interest and the least restrictive option is chosen.
• Age of consent to treatment = Children over the age of 16 hold responsibility to consent and refuse their own treatment, however the circumstances are different for children under the age of 16. In some circumstances a child can consent to their own treatment if it is believed they have enough competence, understanding and intelligence of the treatment they are consenting too and are sometimes assessed under the gillick competence test which examines how a child deals with the process of making a decision. If this test is failed then consent to treatment falls under the control of the individual’s parents.
• Parental responsibility = The Mental Capacity Act states that parents hold responsibility for their child under the age of 16 which allows them to make or help with decisions regarding their child’s treatment unless it is believed that professionals need to intervene. The Children’s Act created in 1989 also states parents hold “all rights, duties, powers, responsibility and authority of a child”.
• Data protection and confidentiality = GDPR is a law created in 2018 that governs how we use, process and store personal data. A child is able to consent to their data being stored from the age of 16 and a principle of GDPR states data will be securely stored and kept confidential.