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Mental Health Bill [HL]

Perhaps I may briefly intervene before what I know will be a very important speech by the noble Lord, Lord Winston. A number of noble Lords have said that Section 1 of the Scottish legislation of 2003 contains a statement that is very similar to that put forward by my noble friend and others. Does the Minister have any news of how that legislation is going? How is it meeting the needs of Scotland and has there been any legal challenge to it? The Scottish Act refers to the whole of mental health legislation and only Part 7 relates to compulsory detention, so I ask him only about that. The noble Lord, Lord Warner, clearly sees the problems that that will arise as a result of this amendment—I suspect that he saw them at Second Reading. He made a helpful speech. I wonder whether the Minister’s reply will fit in well with it. It would be encouraging if it did. Will the Minister tell us what the news is from Scotland? The Act there has been in operation since October 2005. There must be some evidence of whether the problems which the noble Lord, Lord Warner, sees have arisen.