Schedule 6
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
4:30 pm
Angela Browning (Deputy Chairman (Organising and Campaigning), Conservative Party; Tiverton and Honiton, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 11, in schedule 6, page 79, line 9, at end insert—
‘(3) Where the managing authority deprives P of his liberty by detaining him as mentioned in paragraph 1(2), the appropriate NHS body or local authority which has authorised the detention shall make arrangements for the provision of the accommodation with care or treatment, and it shall be free of charge.’.
We come now to the question of charges and the Government’s provision to amend the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The issue was debated in another place, but the Government rejected its proposals, so I make no apology for reintroducing it in Committee.
There are clear differences in the treatment of patients deprived of their liberty under the Mental Capacity Act and that applied to those deprived of their liberty under the Mental Health Act 1983. In the previous sitting, I alluded to the fact that I hope that the Minister will give some clarification regarding those patients who drift, as it were, between one piece of legislation and the other—we have not as yet had such clarification.
There are costs associated with the treatment of patients whose liberty has been withdrawn under the Mental Capacity Act. Accommodation is free for a person who is sectioned under the Mental Health Act—their liberty has been taken from them so that they can be treated—but the Government propose to charge for the accommodation and care received by those who have their liberty deprived them under the Mental Capacity Act. A person detained under section 3 of the Mental Health Act would find, on discharge, that their after care was free, whereas the Government propose that under the Mental Capacity Act, after care will be subject to a charge.
Equally, the appeals process will treat differently two groups of people who have been deprived of their liberty. For those detained under the Mental Health Act, the appeals process will be free, whereas there will be a charge connected to the appeals process to the Court of Protection under the Mental Capacity Act. We are seeing the development not only of an unequal footing, but of a clear disadvantage, particularly on charging, for those patients whose liberty is removed under the Mental Capacity Act.
The Government did not accept that argument in the Lords, so I am asking the Minister to look at the matter again.