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The Public Committee stage of the Mental Health Bill took place on 24 April. The Committee received evidence for a variety of organisations and individuals. You can read the submissions on the Parliament website.
Amendments made to the Bill during this process are also on the Parliament website.
The Bill has been read a second time in the House of Commons. You can download the text below. The next stage is the Committee, which must be finished by 15 May.
House of Commons 2nd Reading text - 426 KB
The Bill has had its first reading in the House of Commons and has been printed with the amendments from the Lords. For a description of what this means, see parliament explained.
You can read the full text of the Lords Readings and Committee Stages in the documents below.
Download the Lords 2nd Reading text - 318 KB
Download the Lords Committee Stage text - 1,718 KB
Download the Lords Report Stage text - 1,031 KB
Download the Lords 3rd Reading text - 121 KB
The Joint Committee on Human Rights has published its scrutiny report into the Mental Health Bill. The Committee of MPs and Lords has examined the proposed amendments to the 1983 Act to assess their potential impact on human rights.
The report is on the Parliament website.
The Mental Health Alliance welcomes the Welsh Assembly's resolution that the Mental Health Bill is deeply flawed: 'The evidence to the Committee has demonstrated a consistent view that the proposed Mental Health legislation is deeply flawed. In the light of this evidence, the Committee’s view is that the Minister should request framework powers on the Mental Health Bill’.
The Assembly will seek a full Plenary debate on the Bill and make its views known to the Minister.
The Bill today received its second reading in the House of Lords. The Alliance produced a briefing paper for the Lords before the debate. You can download it and the text of the debate (from Hansard) below.
Download the Second Reading Briefing - 112 KB
The Department of Health as published the Mental Health Bill. Our press release is here.
Link to the Bill on the DH website.
The Department of Health has published briefing papers on the following issues:
and its seven areas of policy:
Read and download these briefings
If you are unable to view the documents, you can call the DH for a hard copy on 020 7972 4477.
Questions to the Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Health
6 July 2006
House of Commons oral question asked by James Duddridge MP
Repeal of parts of the Mental Health Act 1983
6 July 2006
House of Commons written question tabled by Tim Loughton MP
Involvement of the BME Mental Health Network in Race Equality Impact Assessment events
14 June 2006
House of Commons written question tabled by Tim Loughton MP
Race equality and Mental Health Act reform
5 June 2006
House of Commons written questions tabled by Diane Abbott MP
Mental Health Act reform by regulation
5 June 2006
House of Commons written question tabled by Tim Loughton MP
More on the Government announcement to abandon the 2004 Draft Bill