Mental Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, the noble Lord invites me to give a short response. I am afraid that we were not moved by the noble Lord’s eloquence in Committee or when he described himself as astonishingly and wretchedly depressed by my response, because there is legislative provision to achieve what he wants. However, I accept that behind his amendment is an issue about problems that the courts have had. That is down to good practice rather than legislative requirement. I understand some of the practical issues that face courts when dealing with the kind of problems that the noble Lord raised in Committee. My department and the Home Office commissioned a report on the state of court psychiatric schemes, which was published in September 2005. The report found that provision had grown up piecemeal. We need to do all that we can to even out that practice. Models of good practice in co-operation and commissioning are being identified and evaluated. A pilot has also been established based on a service level agreement for the provision of psychiatric reports to courts in the south-west. Evaluation of the pilot is due for completion in 2008 and will provide a good practice guide for other regions of the Courts Service. We are not complacent about the issues that the noble Lord raised. We believe that this is best done through best practice. A pilot is in place and we will use its results to spread good practice throughout the court system.