Mental Health Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Rosie Winterton (Minister of State (Health Services), Department of Health; Doncaster Central, Labour)
I beg to move,
That—
(1) the Committee shall (in addition to its first meeting at 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday 24th April)
meet—
(a) at 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday 24th April;
(b) at 9.25 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. on Thursday 26th April;
(c) at 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday 1st May;
(d) at 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday 8th May;
(e) at 9.25 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. on Thursday 10th May;
(f) at 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday 15th May;
(2) the proceedings shall be taken in the following order: Clause 1; Schedule 1; Clauses 2 to 23;
Schedule 2; Clauses 24 to 32; Schedules 3 and 4; Clauses 33to 38; Schedule 5; Clauses 39 to 47;
Schedules 6 to 8; Clauses 48 to 50; Schedule 9; Clauses 51 and 52; Schedule 10; Clauses 53 to 55; new Clauses; new Schedules; remaining proceedings on the Bill;
(3) the proceedings shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday 15th May.
I am sure that I speak on behalf of all members of the Committee when I say how pleased we are to be sitting under your expert chairmanship, Mr. Cook, and that of Lady Winterton. We are very much looking forward to the debate.
The Bill certainly raises some extremely sensitive issues. I wish first to emphasise the Government’s objectives, which are to make sure that people with serious mental health problems receive the treatment that they need; to modernise mental health law in line with the development of services; to tackle current European convention on human rights incompatibilities and to strengthen patients’ rights.
The modernisation of mental health legislation has been under discussion for something like nine years. I thank all the parliamentarians who participated in those discussions, particularly members of the pre-legislative scrutiny Committee. I wish also to thank all the interested organisations that have contributed to the debate and officials at the Department of Health and the Home Office who have spent much of their waking hours putting together this and previous, draft Bills. We have a fine body of men and women here today. I am sure that the debate will be lively, but I hope also constructive.
As right hon. and hon. Members know, the Government wish to make changes to the Bill that has come from the other place, but I emphasise that that is because we consider it vital that treatment and help are given to some of the most vulnerable people in our society—the subject of the Bill. It is important to point out that we need to see the Bill in the context of the improvements that we have been making to mental health services during the past 10 years, particularly through the national service framework. Many of the changes that we are proposing under the mental health legislation are because of the many new services that we can now offer to people with mental health problems.
I pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of the many thousands of staff in our mental health services who have done so much to improve what we can offer to make sure that we have high-quality services that are accessible to people who need them. I shall conclude my remarks by again thanking all those who have helped to draw up the legislation and I look forward to the forthcoming debates.