Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure that decisions to section individuals are based on the merits of the case in question and not on ethnicity.

Decisions to detain patients under the Mental Health Act should not be based on ethnicity. The reforms under the Mental Health Act 2025 ensure that detention is used when absolutely necessary for patient and public safety. The planned reforms will not change the fundamental powers and purpose of the act, which is to detain and treat people when they are so unwell they become a risk to themselves or others.