165.Section 18A(2)(a) of the 2003 Act provides that references in Part 2 of that Act to a certificate under the Mental Health Act which suspends a person’s detention and does not impose a supervision requirement are references to certificates under section 224(2) of the Mental Health Act (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 which are not subject to a supervision condition. The effect of such a certificate is that the detention of the person in a hospital, by order or direction, would be suspended, and the person would be permitted to leave the hospital grounds without supervision.
166.Section 18A(2)(b) goes on to provide that reference to a certificate being granted for the first time means the first time since the person was detained under the order or direction or recalled to hospital while subject to that order or direction. Under section 16 of the 2003 Act, the victim of the offence which led to the detention of the person is entitled to be informed the first time such a certificate is granted.
167.Section 49 amends section 18A to make provision in relation to persons detained by order or direction in a specific hospital unit, rather than a hospital at large. The change means that in relation to those persons, references to the first time that person is granted a certificate allowing them unsupervised suspension of detention means the first time a certificate is granted which allows them to leave the hospital of which the unit forms part without supervision. This means that if the person is granted a certificate allowing them to leave the unit in which they are detained, but which does not allow them to leave the wider hospital or its grounds, that is not treated as the first grant of a certificate and therefore does not trigger a right for the victim to be notified.
Crown Application Part 3 – Victims’ Rights to Receive Information Section 49 – SUS within hospital grounds