Clause 3
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
5:00 pm
Hywel Williams (Spokesperson (Education and Skills; Health; International Development; Treasury; Work and Pensions); Caernarfon, Plaid Cymru)
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Lady Winterton.
The Minister suggested earlier that it would be patronising to the practitioners to draw their attention to certain things. I draw the Committee’s attention to the fact that, in other aspects of law, such as child-care law, it seems to be entirely appropriate to draw practitioners’ attention to the need for them to give due regard to children’s background, ethnicity, language, culture and a whole long list of matters before taking children into care. Should we be arguing against such provisions in that other context? Would the Minister apply the principle across?