Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her White Paper on Reforming the Mental Health Act 1983, what steps her Department will take to (a) engage with stakeholders on and (b) assess the potential merits of policy proposals in that paper.
The Government published the draft Mental Health Bill on 27 June, which is currently subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint Parliamentary committee. The Government consulted on the proposals for legislation which were made by the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act in 2018 and through the responses received to the Reforming the Mental Health Act white paper. We have also worked with charities to gather the views of those who were either in inpatient services or had lived experience of the Act, including children and young people. This has informed the development of the draft Bill.