Clause 24
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Tim Loughton (Shadow Minister (Children), Health; East Worthing and Shoreham, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 62, in clause 24, page 14, leave out lines 32 to 37 and insert—
‘142D Registered Medical Practitioner
Where a clinician undertakes an assessment of a minor’s needs in accordance with section 142B he shall consider whether the registered medical practitioner responsible for the minor’s care and treatment in hospital should have special experience in the diagnosis or treatment of mental disorder in persons under the age of 18.’.
I welcome you back to the Chair, Mr. Cook, after the weekend break. This is an important clause about children and young people, one of the six main-ticket items that attracted significant amendments and debate in the House of Lords. I notice that in response to Government amendment No. 21, which would have omitted all of clause 24 but has not been selected, you have allowed a clause stand part debate as part of the second grouping. Therefore, I shall not speak generally about the clause now, but reserve my comments until that debate.
Amendment No. 62 is a small technical amendment reflecting the Government’s concerns about the amendments tabled in the Lords. It is an attempt to allay those concerns and improve the original Lords amendment. The addition of clause 24 has placed three main considerations in the Bill to ensure that age-appropriate treatment, decisions and care settings are provided for children and young people, who I think all Committee members will agree are particularly vulnerable among those suffering from mental illness, and who have not been receiving mental health care that is as good and appropriate as they need and are entitled to receive.
I think that the whole Committee agrees that we need to improve the situation. The argument between the Government and the Conservatives is whether that should be done on a statutory basis or through service provision. We think that the Government have had quite long enough to make those improvements through service provision, and that that has not proved effective. That is why we agree with the Lords amendments, which were supported by Members from a number of different parties, including some Labour Members of the other House. We need to legislate on age-appropriate care in the Bill in order to give a fairer deal to children and young people in mental health services.