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Equality Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 26:"Page 65, line 35, at end insert—" ““(   )   In exercising its functions the Disability Committee shall have regard to the views and experiences of mental health service users and those who have used mental health services in the past.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 26, I shall speak to Amendment No. 107. I know that my noble friend Lord Ashley will want to speak to Amendment No. 29. I assure my noble friends on the Front Bench that this is a probing amendment to seek assurances from Ministers that they expect the new commission to follow the example of the Disability Rights Commission in involving mental health service users in its work. That is extremely important. I was a member of the Joint Select Committee that considered the draft Mental Health Bill. We took evidence from mental health service users, which brought home to us how important it is that they should be involved in any discussion of the work of the new commission. The DRC has a mental health action group, which has proved to be extremely helpful. We must remember that up to one in six people experiences mental health problems during the course of their lifetime, while 630,000 have severe mental health problems at any time, ranging from schizophrenia to deep depression. We were disappointed during discussion of the Disability Discrimination Act not to persuade the Government to include depression in the definition of disability; we will continue to press on that. When I read the briefing on the amendment, I had a strong sense of déjà vu, because we were given those facts during the passage of the Mental Capacity Act and the Disability Discrimination Act and as evidence to the Joint Select Committee on the draft Mental Health Bill. It is worth reminding the House that people with severe mental health problems are twice as likely to die early as the general population. For example, people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia live on average for nine years less than other people. I read the Sun—or, at least, the football pages, but little else—but I am told that in December 2001, the Sun had a headline,"““Nuts to be caged for life by docs””," and, in June 2002,"““Psychos to be locked up for life””." That is the sort of exclusion from society that we want to avoid through all that the new commission does. So those are the reasons for tabling this probing amendment. It is important that the group that advises the DRC should also argue that the new commission should give particular attention to those who experience discrimination on multiple grounds. Black and ethnic minority people with mental health problems, for example, are twice as likely to be involuntarily detained under the Mental Health Act as are white people. So, for all these reasons, I hope the Minister will be able to give the assurances we seek in relation to this very real problem. I beg to move.