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2006/07
  

Government Bills 2006/07 - enacted
 

Mental Health Act

Key Benefits
The Bill will amend the Mental Health Act 1983, and make some changes to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to:

Help ensure that people with serious mental disorders can be required, where necessary, to receive the treatment they need to protect them and the public from harm - this will be achieved by: simplifying and modernising the definition of mental disorder and the criteria for detention; introducing supervised community treatment; and abolishing finite restriction orders.

Bring mental health legislation into line with modern service provision - by allowing a broader range of professionals to carry out functions within the 1983 Act and by enabling people to be treated in the community where appropriate.

Strengthen patient safeguards and tackle human rights incompatibilities - by introducing safeguards for people who lack capacity to decide about their care, are deprived of their liberty to protect them from harm and are not covered by the 1983 Act safeguards. And by introducing new grounds for the displacement of nearest relatives and allowing for the first time patients to make applications for displacements; and by speeding up access to the Tribunal.

Act of Parliament
Explanatory Notes
Regulatory Impact assessment
Territorial Extent
England and Wales

Additional Information

The Mental Health Bill is a fundamental part of the Government's strategy to improve the provision of mental health services and make them more focused on the needs of the individual. There is a three part strategy to help deliver mental health services that serve the interests of patients and society which includes: substantially increasing investment in mental health services; developing new and innovative community services; and improving mental health law. 

The current legislation is the Mental Health Act 1983. The Bill follows a report of an Expert Committee in 1998, a Green Paper, a White Paper, a draft Bill for consultation in 2002 and a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny - by a joint committee of the Houses of Parliament - in 2004. In March 2005, the pre-legislative scrutiny committee published its report and the government responded to this in July 2005. In March 2006, the government announced its intention to pursue a Bill to amend the Mental Health Act 1983. In June 2006, government set out detail with regard to the Bournewood safeguards it will be introducing to the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Comments

If you have any comments on the proposals you can email them to:

MentalHealthBill@dh.gsi.gov.uk
 
 
 
 
Department of Health