Mental Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support these amendments for all the reasons which have been so cogently expanded by the noble Earl. I just want to emphasise one part of what he said; namely, the legal issue which it seems to me arises if there is not a remedy before the mental health review tribunal. The analogy with the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 is good. It was recognised when control orders were introduced that it was essential that a due process be provided; that is, a judicial procedure which would be regarded as a remedy under Article 13 of the convention. That due process has been found to be useful. There have been cases—for example, R v E, in which judgment was received in the past few days—in which the judge reviewing the control order conditions declared that some of them were unlawful and therefore invalid, and a new control order had to be issued. If the Government do not include the power to go to the mental health review tribunal for a review of community treatment order conditions, what will follow is inevitable. Someone, or a group of people, whose conditions are fairly stringent will apply to the High Court for judicial review on the grounds that they are disproportionate. That will result in an expensive and time-consuming set of litigation, which will eventually lead us to the conclusion that the Act is insufficient in the remedy it provides. It is far better to deal with that now than after a war of attrition through the courts.