Source · Select Committees · Human Rights (Joint Committee)
3rd Report - Legislative Scrutiny: Mental Health Bill
Human Rights (Joint Committee)
HC 601
Published 19 May 2025
Recommendations
22
Accepted
The Government should carry out a review of the use of Community Treatment Orders, which...
Recommendation
The Government should carry out a review of the use of Community Treatment Orders, which a black person is seven times more likely to receive than a white person. (Recommendation, Paragraph 125) 56
Government Response Summary
The government is committed to monitoring and reviewing reformed Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) and is developing a long-term monitoring and evaluation strategy that will include consideration of changes to CTOs and related data.
Ministry of Justice
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27
Accepted
Monitoring compliance with this standard is important.
Recommendation
Monitoring compliance with this standard is important. Data on hospital transfers should be gathered centrally and made available to the public. (Recommendation, Paragraph 144)
Government Response Summary
The government agrees on the importance of monitoring hospital transfers and has established a Mental Health and Justice Strategic Advisory Group to scrutinise data, committing to include transfer timeliness data in annual reports when ready for publication.
Ministry of Justice
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Conclusions (3)
24
Conclusion
Accepted
The Human Rights Act provides legal protection against, and redress for, human rights violations in the UK. Recent case law has highlighted a gap in that human rights protection for mental health patients in state commissioned but privately provided care. (Conclusion, Paragraph 136)
Government Response Summary
The government agrees this issue should be remedied and has tabled an amendment at Commons Committee to ensure that private providers of state-commissioned mental health inpatient and aftercare are considered public authorities under Section 6 of the Human Rights Act.
26
Conclusion
Accepted
It is crucial that prisoners experiencing serious mental health crises are promptly moved to a hospital environment where they can receive the treatment they need. Delays in such moves risk exposing individuals to inhuman or degrading treatment in breach of Article 3 ECHR. The Bill’s introduction of a statutory 28 …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that monitoring transfer processes is crucial and has established a Mental Health and Justice Strategic Advisory Group to scrutinise data and identify solutions. They also commit to annual reporting on Bill implementation, including transfer timeliness.
28
Conclusion
Accepted
We can see that in narrow circumstances, where the need to ensure the safety of the public makes deprivation of liberty in the community the least restrictive option available, being able to impose conditions on the discharge of a restricted patient that amount to a deprivation of liberty may be …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees on the need for careful use of the power to impose conditions on restricted patient discharge and for effective safeguards, confirming that more safeguards are in place for this cohort, including more frequent and automatic Mental Health Tribunal referrals. They also commit to producing detailed guidance for the Justice Secretary's functions and for the Mental Health Tribunal to ensure scrutiny.