Mental Health Bill [HL]

Lord Timpson Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 24th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

My Lords, during the passage of this Bill, both the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, and the noble Lord, Lord Bradley, who is not in his place, have spoken passionately about people with mental health issues in prison. The noble Baroness, Lady Fox, referred to Valdo Calocane, and I know that the Government have instigated an inquiry. That particular case was the motivation for Amendments 160BA and 160BB in a later group, to which my noble friend Lord Howe will speak.

During the earlier debates on this, both at Second Reading and in Committee, I was particularly struck by the remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, on Chief Inspector Charlie Taylor’s graphic description of seriously mentally ill people in prisons being akin to a Victorian nightmare. After that debate, I read some of what Charlie Taylor had said, particularly about his visit in 2022 to Eastwood Park, where he witnessed

“bloodstains on the floor and scratch marks on the walls—evidence of the levels of distress of the women being held there”.

The noble Baroness, Lady Fox, also told the Committee about the experience of prison staff, saying that one of the most difficult things is the danger that prisoners with mental health issues pose to themselves, other prisoners and staff. In fact, Charlie Taylor gave an example of an incident when staff were

“unable to stop one inmate from repeatedly running into a brick wall due to a lack of suitable training”.

These are very important issues that the noble Baroness and other noble Lords are raising.

Given all this and its importance—I know that one of the reasons the Minister was appointed to his position was his experience and passion for prison reform—it seems reasonable to ask the Secretary of State to publish a review of the impact of this Act on prisons and to assess whether it provides for adequate support for ongoing treatment and care in those settings, including adequate staff training. I am sure this will be of help not only to the Secretary of State for the Department of Health and Social Care but to the Ministry of Justice. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Timpson) (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, for bringing this discussion before the Committee today. This amendment would introduce a new clause, making it a requirement for the Secretary of State to publish a review of the impact and assessment of the provisions of the Act that relate to care and treatment of mentally disordered persons in prisons— this includes under-18s in young offender institutions, IPP prisoners and female prisoners—within 12 months of the day it is passed.

The aim of the criminal justice reforms is to speed up access to specialist in-patient care and ensure that offenders and defendants with severe mental health needs are able to access effective and timely support in the most appropriate setting. We are committed to understanding the impact of these provisions as we monitor any available data. However, these reforms will not come into effect until at least 18 months post Royal Assent. This is to ensure that the necessary operational improvements have been made to enable them to be safely implemented.

We are working closely with health and justice partners to ensure that there is a robust implementation plan in place, and we will scope the feasibility of assessing the impact on all prisoners, including under-18s in young offender institutions, IPP prisoners and female prisoners. Our expectation is that the numbers of these cohorts affected in a prison setting will be small and are unlikely to show up in administrative datasets. However, I reiterate that everyone in our care is important—and I thank the noble Lord, Lord Kamall, for his comments about the importance of this to me. We are committed to supporting everyone’s rehabilitation, working to ensure that people stay out of prison by leaving in good health.

I am pleased with the feedback on the noble Baroness’s visit to HMP Five Wells. I too have seen some very ill prisoners in HMP Five Wells and many other prisons. That is why the Bill, and the work we are doing to improve our prisons and the chances of prisoners leaving with a one-way ticket, not a return ticket, are so important.

I reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, that there is already a robust scrutiny landscape in place. We are accountable to several key stakeholders and bodies, including His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons, independent monitoring boards, the Care Quality Commission and the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales. We are committed to learning from what works and where we can improve support for vulnerable offenders with severe mental health conditions.