Mental Health Bill [HL]

Baroness Parminter Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 20th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Tyler of Enfield (LD)]

My Lords, this is an important set of amendments, and, as the noble Earl, Lord Howe, said, they are central to decisions about whether to detain people under the Act.

I agree that the definition of “serious harm” is important, and it would be helpful to hear from the Minister what the Government are thinking there, how it will be applied, and how any thresholds will be established.

I endorse what the noble Earl had to say about children and young people, what a huge decision it is to detain someone under 18 in hospital against their will, and how hard we need to work to avoid that, whenever that is safe for themselves and other people.

Finally, and very much linked to that, I strongly support Amendment 139 on the availability of community-based services, which we have already talked about and which we will turn to in subsequent groupings. It is a very good amendment, particularly the provision which states:

“The Secretary of State must publish a report to assess whether there should be more community-based services for community patients in order to prevent”—


I see this as a key preventive measure—

“detention under the Mental Health Act 1983”.

My one point is that the amendment talks about publishing that within two years of the day on which this Act is passed. I personally think that in an ideal world we might see a report a bit earlier than that. However, as I say, Amendment 139 certainly has my full support.

[Baroness Parminter (LD)]

I am sorry that I did not jump up in time before my Front Bench spoke.

I just wanted to add my voice to support Amendment 139 in the name of the noble Earl, Lord Howe, and the report on community-based services. It is really timely and we need it. The case was made very carefully and well by others, so I will not expand much other than to say that an extensive report was done in November by the leading charity, Beat, which looked at the case for more intensive community care and daycare for people with eating disorders in order to avoid—the very point that the noble Earl, Lord Howe, made—ending up getting to such a point of severity that they need to go into mental health facilities and be detained, which indeed happened to my daughter, as I made clear at Second Reading.

The case has been well made that a report should be made. I agree with my noble friend Lady Tyler that two years seems quite a long time off, particularly as recent work has been done, particularly in the field of eating disorders, to show that you can both reduce the number of patients and reduce the cost if you make the investment up front in community services.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, as an ex-community mental health nurse, I wish in particular to support Amendment 139. I am convinced that we need appropriate ratios of such staff to deliver preventive services in the community as well as ongoing support. We need to remember that the NHS rests in the future on preventing rather than treating, and this is an important amendment that acknowledges that.