Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the forthcoming Mental Health Act white paper, what the Government's timetable is for bringing forward legislative proposals.

The Government published its white paper, ‘Reforming the Mental Health Act’ on 13 January. At the same time, we launched a formal 14-week consultation, which will run until April 2021.

The white paper contains a full response to the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act and considers each of the Review’s recommendations in turn. The Government welcomed the Independent Review’s final report and accepts the vast majority of these recommendations.

We will publish a response to this consultation this year and, for those changes which require legislation, our ambition is to share a draft Mental Health Bill around this time next year for pre-legislative scrutiny.