21. Amendment of section 49 of Act of 2001

Section 49 of the Act of 2001 is amended—

(a) in subsection (2), by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (c):

“(ca) direct in writing any person, whose attendance before the tribunal would, but for the exigencies of the public health emergency, be ordinarily required, to provide a written statement to the tribunal on such matters as may be specified in the direction,”,

(b) in subsection (4)(c), by the substitution of “paragraph (ca), (d) or (e)” for “paragraph (c), (d) or (e)”,

(c) in subsection (6)—

(i) by the substitution, in paragraph (a), of “date and time” for “date, time and place”, and

(ii) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c):

“(c) enabling the patient the subject of the review to present his or her case to the tribunal by way of representations in writing made by the patient or his or her legal representative,”,

and

(d) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (11):

“(12) Where section 48(3A) applies, the Commission shall, on the request of the tribunal, appoint a consultant psychiatrist with whom the tribunal may, on the date on which the tribunal is sitting and for the purposes of the review concerned, consult.”.