Source · Select Committees · Human Rights (Joint Committee)
Recommendation 4
4
Not Addressed
There is an inherent lack of justification for detaining a person for treatment based only...
Conclusion
There is an inherent lack of justification for detaining a person for treatment based only on their learning disability or autism, giving rise to clear concerns over compatibility with Article 5 ECHR. We welcome the Bill’s attempts to remove autistic people and people with learning disabilities from the scope of detention for treatment under the Mental Health Act. We recognise that the change in the law would leave open a possibility of these groups being detained on other grounds. (Conclusion, Paragraph 50)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response, which discusses existing measures to improve community support and funding, does not directly address the committee's conclusion regarding the justification for detaining people solely based on learning disability or autism.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
The Department has been clear that we do not want to see people detained in hospital through alternative legislative routes, where this is not appropriate. We therefore do accept this recommendation in part. Through the national Assuring Transformation dataset, NHS England currently collect data on the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people in inpatient settings under different legal frameworks. As the Committee has noted, the Government has committed that ahead of the changes to Part 2, Section 3 we will monitor and publish data on the number of detentions of people with a learning disability and autistic people under the Mental Capacity Act and will include a line on this in our standard publications. As part of standard practice to avoid risk of disclosure of personal information, any figures below five would be suppressed in publications (represented with an asterisk). Should detentions rise to five or more in future, we will publish the number rounded to nearest five. If there is evidence of inappropriate use of the Mental Capacity Act, action will be taken. This must be tailored to and informed by the data and intelligence from local areas.
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