Mental Health Bill [HL]

We on these Benches support the amendment. I do not want to repeat all the arguments in favour of the amendment, although I think I can hear the noble Lord, Lord Bragg, sitting behind me saying, ““Oh, go on, repeat them all””. In his opening remarks, the noble Earl, Lord Howe, referred to stigma and discrimination. We live with those still; they still abound around us. Certainly, I come across quite a lot of stigma surrounding mental health issues. In fact, I was coming across so much stigma last year, and it was so serious, that I arranged to have a roadshow come to my diocese, with people who could talk about mental health educatively. We had a very worthwhile session. To my great surprise, it was well received and people have asked for more. We have so much still to do on discrimination and stigma. The noble Baroness, Lady Barker, referred to the fact that we have a great opportunity now to make this Bill even better than it is. Amendment No. 1 isthe way in to doing just that. We need to seize the opportunity. The principles are: maximising the participation of the patient, taking proper account of the views of patients and carers, non-discriminatory treatment, reciprocity and having the least restrictive treatment. We believe that those principles should be in the Bill, and it is difficult to see any of them being nullified or superseded. I hope to hear the newly returned Minister, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, give us all some encouragement. Allowing for the cautions of the noble Lord, Lord Warner, I say let us give the parliamentary draftsmen even more work to do on wet winter afternoons. Others on the Benches opposite have made similar comments. As the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, pointed out, guiding principles also have a significant professional and public educative role. We support the amendment wholeheartedly.