Mental Health Bill [HL]

Lord Pannick Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 24th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab)]

My Lords, I apologise to the Committee for my not having been able to speak at Second Reading and for seeking to intervene on one amendment only in such an important Bill. That is the amendment from my noble friend Lady Keeley, supported by the noble Baroness, Lady Barker. I declare an interest as a council member of Justice, the NGO that will no doubt have sent briefings to many Members of the Committee on this important amendment.

Amendment 149 is a no-brainer, which warrants support and adoption by the Government and welcome from every political tradition represented in your Lordships’ House. It is no surprise to the Committee, I am sure, that I am a supporter of the Human Rights Act and the way in which it has protected vulnerable people and their families, including in mental health facilities. Those are some of the most potent stories about the Human Rights Act over the last near-quarter of a century.

Contracting out services will always be a matter of high politics in a democracy. It is literally the meat and drink of left-right debate over social and economic management. This was amply demonstrated in contributions on an earlier group by the noble Baronesses, Lady Bennett and Lady Fox, the noble Earl, Lord Howe, and my noble friend the Minister. However, no one in that debate ever advocates for either public or private provision on the basis that vulnerable people should be less well treated or protected.

It is my contention that everyone in the Committee should support Amendment 149, which would ensure Human Rights Act protection for publicly arranged mental health care, whether delivered by a public or private provider. No social democrat or liberal can approve of public authorities being able to contract out of constitutional protection, and no conservative can approve of public authorities being able to avoid responsibility for negligence or harm to individuals and their families, especially where coercive power is involved. Finally, I am sure that all Members of this Committee believe in equality before the law.

This amendment closes not so much a loophole as a glaring omission in legal protection as exposed by the case law and the Joint Committee on Human Rights. I commend it to the Committee.

[Lord Pannick (CB)]

My Lords, I too support the amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, and I agree with every word spoken by the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti. I am here today because I have an interest to declare, which is that I acted—unsuccessfully—in the case that caused the problem. In YL v Birmingham City Council, I was the unsuccessful counsel for YL, although I take comfort from the fact that of the five members of the Appellate Committee who sat on that case, the two who dissented were Lord Bingham of Cornhill and the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Hale—a formidable combination indeed. The noble and learned Baroness summed up the point in her dissenting speech in the Appellate Committee. She said that it is a function of a public nature for the purposes of the Human Rights Act when it is performed pursuant to statutory arrangements, when it is performed at public expense, and when it is performed in the public interest. It is as simple as that. I agree with her, I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, and I very much hope the Minister will accept this amendment.

[Baroness Barker (LD)]

My Lords, it is usual in your Lordships’ House for the people with their names on the amendment to speak first; noble Lords will understand why I stood back, given the previous two speeches. I understand how the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, felt, having the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Hale, in his corner. I do not want to repeat anything that the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, has said, because she summed it up extremely well.

We are very lucky; we get to talk to lawyers of calibre and fame. But I want to stand up for the solicitors, lawyers and independent mental health professionals who, day in and day out, go and see the people who are in real distress or are forgotten about, who nobody else is terribly interested in. They make it their business to make sure they are treated like human beings, wherever they are. I simply take the occasion to say this, because right now, we have to take every opportunity we have to defend the Human Rights Act and the application of universal human rights. It is no good having human rights that you pick and choose and apply to the people you like. It is why I picked the noble Earl, Lord Howe, up on his previous amendment.

We are very bad at explaining the importance of the Human Rights Act to people in the community; it is fair game for every newspaper hack or whoever wants to take a go at it, but it is about making sure that vulnerable people are treated as full human beings in our society. Therefore, I hope that even if we have not managed to fashion the exact perfect amendment, the noble Baroness will agree that this deserves to be in the legislation.