Oral Answers to Questions

James Morris Excerpts

Wednesday 13th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We care deeply about making sure the most vulnerable in our society get the support they need through the winter, which is why we increased welfare by record amounts earlier this year. We supplemented that with £900 in cost of living payments for the most vulnerable. It is why we have provided energy bill support for those who need our help the most. Pensioners in the hon. Lady’s constituency and elsewhere will receive up to £300 alongside their winter fuel payment. Indeed, that support will last not just through the winter but into next year, because we are deeply committed to helping those who need it. This Government have a track record of delivering that help.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

Q13. The Prime Minister is rightly focused on taking long-term decisions to improve the lives of people in this country, so can I make a suggestion? Our mental health legislation is 40 years old, and we made a manifesto commitment in 2017 and 2019 to reform the Mental Health Act 1983 because people with learning disabilities and autism who are sectioned under the Act are being kept in inappropriate accommodation for long periods. People sectioned under the Act are not receiving the compassionate care they deserve and are, in a sense, criminalised. They have their mental health condition re-stigmatised by the act of sectioning.In the absence of a Bill in the King’s Speech, will the Prime Minister agree to meet me and other like-minded colleagues to discuss how we might take forward the reform of the Mental Health Act, because it simply is not fit for the 21st century?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this important issue. He is absolutely right about the work that needs to be done, and I am grateful to the Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Health Bill. Our intention is to bring forward a Bill when parliamentary time allows.

I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend and other colleagues to discuss this. I remind everyone that we are undertaking the largest expansion of mental health services in a generation, with £2.3 billion of extra funding by March 2024. We are increasing capital investment in mental health urgent care centres and, under the long-term workforce plan, providing the largest expansion of the mental health workforce we have ever seen in this country.