Community Treatment Orders
(asked on 18th July 2023) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of ending the use of community treatment orders.
Answered by
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Independent Review of the Mental Health Act (2018) noted that whilst there is limited evidence that Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) prevent readmission, they do benefit some individuals, and thus the Review recommended reform rather than abolition.
The Government’s proposals, as set out in the draft Mental Health Bill, include reforming CTOs so that they can only be used where there is a strong justification and genuine therapeutic benefit for the patient. The aim of this was to strike a balance between the risks and benefits to patients, whilst mitigating against any potential unintended consequences related to the ending of CTOs.
The draft Mental Health Bill has concluded the pre-legislative scrutiny process, and the Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Health Bill published its report in January 2023. The Department continues to work through the recommendations, including those on CTOs, in the report. The Government will respond in due course.