Mental Health Bill [HL]

(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)

3rd reading
Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Lords Chamber

Relevant documents: 10th and 18th Reports from the Delegated Powers Committee. Welsh Legislative Consent sought.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)]

My Lords, I will make a brief statement on the devolution status of the Bill. The majority of the Act that the Bill amends extends to England and Wales. An initial legislative consent memorandum was laid in the Senedd following the Bill’s introduction. Following further amendments to the Bill, supplementary legislative consent memorandums have been laid. I thank the Welsh Government for their constructive engagement, and I am pleased that they are recommending consent. The Senedd will hold a vote on legislative consent before the end of the Bill’s passage through Parliament.

Clause 30: Periods for tribunal applications

Amendment

Moved by

[Baroness Merron]

Clause 30, page 41, line 24, at end insert—
“(c) in paragraph (e), for “six months” substitute “three months”.”Member's explanatory statement
This amendment is consequential on clause 29(2) of the Bill and changes the period within which an application to the tribunal may be made where a patient is transferred from guardianship to a hospital to align that period with the initial detention period in relation to the patient.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My Lords, this is a minor and technical amendment which would reduce from six months to three months the period within which an application to the tribunal may be made, where a patient is transferred from guardianship to a hospital under Section 19.

We are making this change to ensure that the relevant period within which transferred guardianship patients can make an application to the tribunal aligns with the relevant period for Section 3 patients. This is consequential to the changes that the Bill makes in Clause 29 to reduce from six months to three months the initial detention period for patients admitted for treatment, as part of our intention to provide patients with faster access to tribunals to review relevant decisions about their care. I beg to move.

Amendment agreed.

--- Later in debate ---

Moved by

[Baroness Merron]

That the Bill do now pass.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My Lords, it has been an extraordinary honour and pleasure to take this Bill through the House with my noble friend Lord Timpson. As we are all aware, numerous aspects of the Mental Health Act 1983 are not serving us today. Over the decades, we have seen racial inequalities, inadequate care for individuals with learning disabilities and autism, and insufficient empowerment of patients who have not had an adequate voice.

Reform to the Mental Health Act is therefore long overdue. Many of the processes in the Act are out of step with a modern mental health system and with society at large. It has been a privilege to advance these reforms to deliver the Government’s manifesto commitment to modernise the Act to give patients greater choice, autonomy, enhanced rights and support, and to ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect throughout treatment, while ensuring that patient and public safety is paramount.

As noble Lords will be aware, this Bill is the product of the combined effort, over many years, by Members of both Houses and many outside Parliament who have worked for change and to whom thanks are due. I express my sincere gratitude to members of the former Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Health Bill: the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, as chair, as well as my noble friends Lord Bradley and Lady McIntosh of Hudnall, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Barker, Lady Berridge and Lady Hollins. The work and careful consideration that went into their rigorous scrutiny of the draft Bill, along with the constructive recommendations made, have undoubtedly strengthened it.

I pay tribute to the former Prime Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady May, who identified the need for modernisation and set up the independent review of the Act in 2017, chaired by Sir Simon Wessely and supported by the noble Baroness, Lady Neuberger, as one of the vice-chairs. Without this, we would not be here today.

I extend my heartfelt thanks to all Peers who have engaged with the Bill’s reforms. In addition to those previously mentioned, gratitude is due to both Front Benches—to the noble Lord, Lord Kamall, the noble Earl, Lord Howe, the noble Lord, Lord Scriven, and the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler. I am grateful to all noble Lords from across the House who have spoken during the various stages of the Bill and engaged with me and my officials over the past few months.

Because I would like to think that I am wise, I also thank my Whip, my noble friend Lady Blake, and my previous Whip, my noble friend Lord Cryer. I thank the Chief Whip and the whole of the Whips’ team and the team in the Leader’s office, including Ayeesha Bhutta and Michael Bleakley. My appreciation, as ever, goes to the clerks, doorkeepers and staff of the House.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all the officials who have played a crucial role in the progression of this Bill, and hope your Lordships’ House will indulge me while I give them the honour of mentioning them by name, because I believe they deserve it. Special thanks go to Phillip Dunkley, our Bill manager, and his dedicated team, Callie Mulligan, Sam Monday, Emily Bouldero and Rhys Jose. I am deeply appreciative of the Bill’s senior responsible owners, Kathy Smethurst and Caroline Allnutt, as well as the DHSC officials, including Esther Horner, Hannah Coaker, Alice Devlin, Matt Siddons, Tabitha Mufti, David Nuttall, Jennifer Rhodes, Megan McIvor and Mihiri Seneviratne, and their teams.

Additionally, I want to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of the Government Legal Department officials, Matt Smith, Lizzie Rattee, Nicky Richardson and Tim Spencer Lane, and their wider team, along with my private office staff, including Carl Plane and Yetunde Agaga, as well as Diggory Bailey and Victoria Griggs from the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel.

While I cannot list every individual, I express my appreciation to all officials who have played a part, including officials from the Ministry of Justice. Their unwavering support and dedication have been instrumental in the successful advancement of the Bill, and their work with Peers—as noble Lords across the House will testify—has been exemplary. I am confident that this legislation will make the Mental Health Act fit for the 21st century and give greater and better support to people when they need it. I look forward to it receiving support in the other place. I beg to move.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

My Lords, as the Minister has said, debating the passage of the Bill through your Lordships’ House has been a pleasure. We have seen a genuine spirit of constructive engagement with a Bill that we all acknowledge will help patients who encounter mental health services, as well as a cross-party desire to improve the Bill. This was not a particularly political Bill; we found alliances across political lines and did not play political games. We wanted to improve the Bill and make sure that patients receive the best possible care. That is a wonderful demonstration of the value of this House.

I extend my thanks to all Peers who took part. I also thank the members of the pre-legislative committee whom the Minister acknowledged. Like the Minister, I acknowledge my noble friend Lady May of Maidenhead, the former Prime Minister, who we have to thank for beginning the process that led to this Bill. My noble friend identified the issue of racial disparities in the use of community treatment orders and wanted to reduce the involvement of police where they are not needed. Even though my noble friend was unable to be in her place to speak to her amendments on Report, I am grateful to all noble Lords who supported them, and I am delighted that the House has decided that they should be inserted into the Bill. We look forward to how that will be debated in the other place.

It was also welcome to see the House rally behind my noble friend Lady Berridge’s amendment to ensure that the process for appointing nominated persons for patients under 16 aligns with the Children Act 1989. My noble friend was crystal clear that there has to be consistency between different Bills, and that we do not want people falling between Bills and into harm’s way. She highlighted this and gave some harrowing examples of what could happen if we do not align these Bills. We have to make sure that we align them as much as possible.

I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Scriven, and the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, for their dedication to improving community treatment orders and addressing racial disparities. Noble Lords will remember that this is probably the issue that was closest to my heart, and we probed the Government heavily on it. There are still too many racial disparities. We understand that it is a complicated issue, but the Government assured the House that they are looking into the data around this. What do they know? What do they not know? How will they fill that gap and what will they do to address racial disparities? I hope that is something that all noble Lords can agree on.

Of course, I have to thank my noble friend Lord Howe for his stalwart support and advice on this Bill, and for his experience not only of parliamentary procedure but of previous iterations of this Bill. I appreciate his sagacity, and I am grateful whenever he agrees to work with me on Bills—sometimes to curb my schoolboy enthusiasm and keep me on the right path. I am grateful that he has agreed to work with me on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which your Lordships will debate later today.

I also thank the Minister—and of course her noble friend, the noble Lord, Lord Timpson—for taking time at the Dispatch Box, and for the fact that the Minister and her officials were always available to meet us to try to iron out some of the disagreements or find compromises. That is very much appreciated by all noble Lords in this House. I thank Ben, the special adviser in her office, for his input, and, in our office, our adviser Jamie Tucker, who was amazing in his understanding of the Bill.

I will end by mentioning a quote that was sent to me and my noble friend Lord Howe from the charity Blooming Change. On hearing that the House had voted in favour of my noble friend’s amendment on mandatory debriefing for mental health patients, a younger person told the charity:

“I genuinely for the longest time felt like I didn’t matter, to anyone or anything, that the universe didn’t need to hear my voice, that what I went through didn’t matter. It took so long to build my confidence and to find my voice … I’m glad I decided to use my experiences to fight for change and I’m so happy our words have made a difference. We will keep fighting for more changes, little by little”.


As the Bill now progresses to the other place, I hope all Members involved will heed those wise words.