Mental Health Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 60: 60: Schedule 6 , page 73, line 4, at end insert— ““No charges for accommodation, care or treatment provided to P while deprived of liberty Where the managing authority deprives P of his liberty by detaining him as mentioned in paragraph 1(2) above, 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.”” The noble Baroness said: I cannot tell you how delighted I am to stand up at this hour and start discussing a matter so technical that only a very few people understand it, but that is my misfortune. The next few amendments refer to the Bournewood gap. In the Chamber tonight we have some of the few people in this country who understand what that means. It might help if I briefly explained what the Bournewood gap refers to, small and technical though these matters are. The provision has come about as a result of a court case in which a person who did not have mental capacity went into care as a voluntary patient. When he attempted to leave, he was deemed not to have capacity to make that decision. He and his carers were unable to remove him from that deprivation of liberty. He took his case as far as he could and won. The court gave a judgment about deprivation of liberty. As those who took part in the many debates on this during passage of the Mental Capacity Act will remember, we knew for some time that the Government had to bring in legislation to close that gap. He did not have rights equivalent to those of someone detained under mental health legislation. The Government, to comply, have brought forward proposals amending this legislation and the Mental Capacity Act. The department has helpfully issued a code of practice seeking to explain what this is all about. Page 9 of the code defines the meaning of deprivation of liberty, quoting almost verbatim from the European Court judgment. It also contains a small section on how one identifies when there has been a deprivation of liberty. It is a particularly difficult matter. In its judgment the court said: "““It is not disputed that in order to determine whether there has been a deprivation of liberty, the starting-point must be the specific situation of the individual concerned and account must be taken of a whole range of factors arising in a particular case ""such as the type, duration, effects and manner of implementation of the measure in question. The distinction between a deprivation of, and restriction upon, liberty is merely one of degree or intensity and not one of nature or substance””." I am not a lawyer, but that is a lawyers’ charter. It is well understood by everybody concerned that this matter will be determined over time by case law. Therefore, what I am going to say, and what others and the Minister may say, could be important to future decisions in court about this law and its interpretation. So, late as it is, I am afraid that we have to go through these matters. The purpose of the amendment is to establish that where a person is deprived of his liberty in a care home under the Bournewood provisions, he comes under a care management scheme and the local authority or NHS body that commissions the care does not impose any charges for such care while the authorisation is in place. This issue is specific to those in care homes, because others detained under the Bournewood provisions are normally detained under the Mental Health Act or do not have sufficient personal capital, savings or income to pay for the care. Their care is usually free. Those who are subject to a Bournewood authorisation in a care home, uniquely among those who are deprived of their liberty, should not be expected to pay for their care while they are under that detention. Their detention is subject to Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights—it is detention—and Article 14 prohibits unjustified discrimination in the application of any other articles, including Article 5. So while there may not necessarily be any difference in the conditions of somebody detained under the Mental Health Act or the Mental Capacity Act, there would be for those people. I am perhaps going to pre-empt the Minister saying that she has every sympathy with me but that this could be quite expensive because of the number of people involved. That point has been made by other authorities. We on these Benches are of the opinion that there are two important points. One is that we should not set the precedence in law that those who are deprived of their liberty should be made to pay for their care. That is a dangerous precedent. But the second and perhaps most important point is to make sure that when old people—and it is largely older people who lack capacity—are taken into care homes, a proper care planning approach is taken and care is ordered in such a way that it does not deprive them of their liberty. We should aim for good practice where people are not unnecessarily prevented from going out as they wish and are able. This measure is in part about principle and in part about good practice. I beg to move.