§ 16. Mrs. Helen Brinton (Peterborough)If he will make a statement on the use of compulsion in community mental health drug administration treatments. [81824]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Mr. John Hutton)Our review of the Mental Health Act 1983 will bring to an end the requirement that compulsory treatment can be provided only in a hospital. A principal objective of the review is to create a new legislative framework that will support care and treatment in a wider range of settings and in the least restrictive environment possible, for which the current legislation fails to provide.
§ Mrs. BrintonI thank my hon. Friend for his reply. Is he aware of the considerable concern surrounding the Government's current review of the Mental Health Act 1983? Can he assure me that the changes that the Government will no doubt introduce will not result in an increasing number of patients being subjected to compulsory treatment in their communities?
§ Mr. HuttonI am aware of those concerns. We have been trying to take them into account as we develop our proposals. The purpose of the review is to make sure that the legislation better protects patients. We will make it absolutely clear that any further provisions relating to compulsory treatment under any new legislation will be fully compliant with our obligations under the European convention on human rights—in other words, there will be proper safeguards.
Of course, any decision about whether a patient needs to be compulsorily detained is a matter for proper clinical assessment and risk assessment, and it is not Ministers who make such decisions. I am not sure whether it would be helpful for me to offer an opinion about the numbers. Those are ultimately decisions taken by the professionals.
§ Dr. Peter Brand (Isle of Wight)It is true that a clinical assessment must be made, but it is done within a 702 framework set by Ministers. Can we have an assurance from the Minister that the Home Office will be involved in the discussions on compulsory treatment orders, and that there will be a proper definition of what constitutes a clinically treatable mental illness, as opposed to a personality disorder?
§ Mr. HuttonAny eventual proposals will be published by the Government for consultation. However, the hon. Gentleman is not right to say that it is Ministers who determine the individual assessments, or even the framework of the assessments. That is not so, and it is not and never has been provided for in the legislation. Those are issues for clinical assessment and clinical judgment. We intend to legislate for a better framework of mental health law, which will better provide for the needs of mentally ill people. We have made no secret about that and I am confident that it will produce a better framework of law in the long term.