Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that people with learning disabilities who have been sectioned have accessible information about their rights.

The Department commissioned some resources for people with learning disabilities to support the revised Mental Health Act Code of Practice to explain the Mental Health Act and people’s rights within it. This included a number of easy read factsheets which stated the type of information that should be provided when someone is sectioned. This includes what health professionals should and should not do, and what a person’s rights and choices are in this situation. The fact sheets are available at:

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/mental-health-services-explained/Pages/easy-read-mental-health-act.aspx