Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the use of restrictive interventions and seclusion on people with learning disabilities.

The Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018 will increase the oversight and management of the use of force or restraint in mental health units so that force is only ever used as a last resort. We will publish the Act’s draft statutory guidance for public consultation by late spring 2021 and we will set out a full timetable for commencing the Act at the earliest opportunity.

As part of the joint arm’s length bodies’ programme on reducing use of restraint and restrictive practices, a set of standards and an accreditation scheme for training providers has been developed to provide assurances that staff in mental health services are adequately trained in safe and appropriate use of restraint.