Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (Consequential Provisions) Order 2005

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (Consequential Provisions) Order 2005. The noble Lord said: The final order before us today is the draft Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (Consequential Provisions) Order 2005. It is being made in consequence of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. The broad aims of the 2003 Act are: to provide greater clarity in the criteria to be met before a person with a mental disorder can be made subject to compulsory measures; to create a new forum, the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland, to carry out many of the functions currently carried out by the sheriff courts; and to expand the role of the Mental Welfare Commission, placing a duty on it to monitor the Act and promote best practice. The order amends current references in UK primary and secondary legislation to the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984. That reflects the repeal of the 1984 Act and the coming into effect of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. The order also makes regulations establishing the framework for the cross-border transfer of detained patients. I hope that the Committee will find it helpful if I briefly focus on that aspect of the order, which I know will be of some interest to the Committee. The order is required to ensure that there will be a regime that will operate in essentially the same way as the present regime as set out in the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 and allow transfers of patients both in and out of Scotland. Articles 2 to 12 reflect the provisions of the 1984 Act on the cross-border transfer of patients, which had been updated in the light of the provisions of the 2003 Act. In some instances, that will involve only a change of terminology. In others, it will involve practical changes to the way in which cross-border transfer of patients is handled. The Scottish Executive have recently brought forward regulations under the 2003 Act that provide, as a matter of Scots law, a framework for handling the cross-border transfer of patients. The order before us makes similar provision for a matter of English, Welsh and Northern Irish law, so that patients being transferred are subject to similar regimes. The order relates only to transfers to and from Scotland, not to transfers between any other parts of the United Kingdom. This is a sensible use of the order-making powers of Section 104, as were the two earlier orders that I spoke to, and I commend them to the Committee. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (Consequential Provisions) Order 2005.—(Lord Evans of Temple Guiting.)