The Mental Health Bill [HL] is a government bill that would amend the Mental Health Act 1983. It was introduced in the House of Lords on 6 November 2024 and is due to have its second reading on 25 November 2024. The bill would extend to England and Wales only (apart from the general clauses at the end of the bill that extend UK-wide).
The 1983 act is the legislation that currently regulates the compulsory detention and treatment of people with a mental disorder. The government has said the purpose of the bill is to amend the “outdated” 1983 act by implementing many of the recommendations of an independent review of the Mental Health Act in 2018. The government has said the bill would give more autonomy and voice to those with mental health conditions and address the disproportionate number of Black and ethnic minority people who are sectioned under the current act. Changes proposed in the bill include:
- ensuring that detention and compulsory treatment under the act are only undertaken when necessary, and providing for more frequent reviews and appeals
- limiting the length of time that people with autism or a learning disability can be detained under the act
- removing police stations and prisons from the list of “places of safety” in the 1983 act to which those with a mental disorder can be removed and detained
The legislation is a Labour manifesto commitment. The bill is similar (but not identical) to a draft Mental Health Bill published in 2022 by the previous Conservative government. That bill was subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint committee, which published its report in January 2023. The previous government responded to the joint committee’s recommendations in March 2024, but the draft bill was not introduced in Parliament before the 2024 general election.
