Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in view of the Government's forthcoming reform of the Mental Health Act 1983, if he will include provisions in the Mental Health Bill following concerns raised by respondents in response to the consultation, Reforming the Mental Health Act, updated 24th August 2021, on how the reforms will serve the needs of children and young people; and if he will commit to working closely with stakeholders to test and develop policy proposals in respect of children and young people as part of the pre-legislative scrutiny process prior to the introduction of that Bill to Parliament.

The Government will publish a draft Mental Health Bill shortly. Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill will then be a matter for Parliament.

The Government consulted on the proposals for legislation made by the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act in 2018 and through the ‘Reforming the Mental Health Act’ white paper, which received over 1,700 responses. We have also worked with charities to gather the views of people, including children and young people, who were either in inpatient services or had lived experience of the Act. The development of the draft Bill has been informed by these consultations.