New Clause 5
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
6:00 pm
Tim Boswell (Daventry, Conservative)
I am following the Minister’s argument with quite a lot of sympathy. I understand the case for flexibility and the difficulty of covering everything in regulations. There was a trainee in a secure training centre in my constituency who sadly died. A restraint lock was used on him, in accordance with Home Office guidelines, but he collapsed and died. We need not expand on that now. Does the Minister agree that it is terribly important that less invasive and aggressive techniques are developed and brought forward and communicated as best practice as soon as possible? The fact that we have set guidance in the past, perhaps because a practice was acceptable at the time, does not mean that we so much as tacitly accept that it is the way forward. As soon as we know a better way, we should avoid old practices.