Mental Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for being extremely succinct and for representing the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, in her usually efficient and effective manner. I shall address precisely the points that she has raised. I say at the outset that the policy is that everyone should be assessed by a doctor and at least one other professional. The draft regulations are framed so as to require the doctor involved to have special experience in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorder. One element in what the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, is seeking is that that would include, for example, the expertise to identify when physical causes were impacting on a person’s mental presentation, which might lead to the sort of temporary incapacity that the noble Lord wanted us to refer to, as the noble Baroness did on his behalf. I am confident that the safeguards that we have will cover temporary incapacity. While the person lacks capacity, they will be able to be covered by the Bournewood safeguards. The assessors will have the ability to diagnose mental disorder and to recognise when a person’s lack of capacity is likely to be temporary. It is critical that we give people the right training and ensure that they have the right qualifications and experience. However, because we are setting the period of authorisation on a case-by-case basis, we can ensure that the authorisation is able to be short. The review must be triggered by the home or hospital if there is a change; for example, if the person regains capacity or is clearly moving in that direction. Of course, the representative can also trigger a review if all else fails. I shall always keep the code under review and will look again to ensure that it identifies that as fully as possible. But I hope that I have assured the noble Baroness about the safeguards and that I have given her the explanation that she is looking for.