Mental Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, I hope that I can make the noble Baroness half happy. Let me start with when someone is being assessed. The way that we have tried to tackle the matter is that we have made sure that there is a professional appointment who is independent of the provider and the decision-maker about their care. His role is to establish and report on what is in their best interests. We call them the best interests assessor, the job title fits the job and that is what they have to do. They are required by law to take into account the views of all the people listed within the amendment. They have to have the skills to communicate with those people and to help them input their views. I said in Committee that I would strengthen the guidance and the draft code of practice on involving friends, family and carers, and I will do it; I will cover the need to keep them informed so that they know how to get involved in that process and the need to support them to play their part including, for example, addressing language and communication needs that may exist. I do not want to go so far as saying that we need the support of an IMCA at that point, unless there is no one available to consult.We want the best interests assessor to approach interviews with friends and family from the viewpoint of the best interests of the person who may be deprived of their liberty, which may not always be the same as the interests of the family. It will be in many cases but it will not always be. That is as it should be. Introducing an IMCA to help and support the family could shift the balance away, and what we are interested in at that moment is the best interests of the person being assessed. The families tell us often that what they really need is information. We want to make sure that families understand and are provided with information about the safeguards, about how to be involved and who to speak to in their case, and we will be working with service users and families to make sure that we get that right. Once an authorisation is granted, the role of the best interests assessor falls away and they are extremely sympathetic to the point that was made in Committee and has been made by organisations that I have met—that a family member or friend who is acting as a representative could not have a level playing field of having access to quality advocacy support. We are going to do something about that: as my noble friend Lady Royall said, we are looking at advocacy more generally and coming back to it in another place. I would like to add that into that mix because in a sense it is about the same issue, but we will do so and make sure that we have advocacy support available to families and friends during an authorisation and beyond in the way that the noble Baroness would expect. I hope that on the basis that the cup is half full she will withdraw her amendment.