Mental Health Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 26: 26: After Clause 21, insert the following new Clause— ““Conflicts of interest (1) The 1983 Act is amended as follows. (2) In section 11 (general provisions as to applications), after subsection (1) insert— ““(1A) No application mentioned in subsection (1) above shall be made by an approved mental health professional if the circumstances are such that there would be a potential conflict of interest for the purposes of regulations under section 12A below.”” (3) In section 12 (general provisions as to medical recommendations), in subsection (1), after ““this Part of this Act”” insert ““or a guardianship application””. (4) In that section, for subsections (3) to (7) substitute— ““(3) No medical recommendation shall be given for the purposes of an application mentioned in subsection (1) above if the circumstances are such that there would be a potential conflict of interest for the purposes of regulations under section 12A below.”” (5) After that section insert— ““12A Conflicts of interest (1) The appropriate national authority may make regulations as to the circumstances in which there would be a potential conflict of interest such that— (a) an approved mental health professional shall not make an application mentioned in section 11(1) above; (b) a registered medical practitioner shall not give a recommendation for the purposes of an application mentioned in section 12(1) above. (2) Regulations under subsection (1) above may make— (a) provision for the prohibitions in paragraphs (a) and (b) of that subsection to be subject to specified exceptions; (b) different provision for different cases; and (c) transitional, consequential, incidental or supplemental provision. (3) In subsection (1) above, ““the appropriate national authority”” means— (a) in relation to applications in which admission is sought to a hospital in England or to guardianship applications in respect of which the area of the relevant local social services authority is in England, the Secretary of State; (b) in relation to applications in which admission is sought to a hospital in Wales or to guardianship applications in respect of which the area of the relevant local social services authority is in Wales, the Welsh Ministers. (4) References in this section to the relevant local social services authority, in relation to a guardianship application, are references to the local social services authority named in the application as guardian or (as the case may be) the local social services authority for the area in which the person so named resides.”” (6) In section 13 (duty to make applications for admission or guardianship), in subsection (5), after ““section 11(4) above”” insert ““or of regulations under section 12A above””.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, the amendment deals with conflicts of interest. In Committee, I said that in Section 12(3) of the 1983 Act there was a lack of clarity on how conflicts of interest were dealt with. The amendment deals with two issues relating to that matter. The first is the circumstances in which a doctor, because of their position in relation to the applicant, the patient or another practitioner providing medical recommendations, may not provide medical recommendations. That is particularly important because of the proposals in the Bill to change the role of the ASW and the widening of the new role of associated mental health professional. Secondly, for that reason, the amendment includes a regulation-making power that will enable the Government, perhaps at some time in the future, to widen the scope of the law concerning conflict of interest to a larger group of professionals than has been the case. There is need for complete clarity on how conflicts of interest are dealt with, particularly when people may be members of the same multi-disciplinary team. The regulation-making power would enable the provisions to be expanded at a future date without any need to resort to primary legislation. In moving the amendment, I place on record my thanks to officials who have helped with its formulation. I beg to move.