Mental Health Bill [HL]

Baroness Tyler of Enfield Excerpts

3rd reading
Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Lords Chamber

[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.

[Baroness Tyler of Enfield (LD)]

My Lords, it has been a privilege to be involved in scrutinising and improving this vital Bill, for which we had waited so long. Our debates have been, rightly, exhaustive, and at times—again, quite rightly—passionate. I will make one general observation, which is a point that was made on a number of occasions throughout our deliberations. You get only one chance about every 15 years to reform and modernise mental health legislation, so it is really important to get it right and to include all the relevant issues before the ship sails. Some would like to have seen more fundamental fusion legislation between mental health and incapacity, but that was not on the table, so you work with what you have.