Clause 5
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
11:00 am
Angela Browning (Deputy Chairman (Organising and Campaigning), Conservative Party; Tiverton and Honiton, Conservative)
The Disability Rights Commission has written to the Committee about this part of the Bill, saying:
“The Bill previously abolished the treatability test—requiring only that treatment should be available in a therapeutic environment but without any reference to any positive health benefit for the patient—which would have raised huge issues under the Human Rights Act.”
The Government have said in the Bill that their proposals comply with the Human Rights Act 1998, but the Disability Rights Commission knows a little bit about such things, so if it supports my hon. Friend’s position, the Government should surely ask their lawyers to reconsider the matter of compliance.